A 25-minute block for admin and email, with plain quiet, when nothing else has worked today

1 Before you start

• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.

4What to put on

plain quiet — No added sound at all. If you have a quiet room, that is usually better than any recording of one.