A 25-minute block for research, with a fan or air conditioner, if you have five quiet minutes

1 Before you start

• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.

3 When it ends

• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

a fan or air conditioner — A constant mechanical hum with no variation. The lack of change is the point — nothing in it asks for your attention.