90-minute reading session with a library and a timer, when you have been meaning to start

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.