A 45-minute block for drawing, with brown noise, if you are new to this

1 Before you start

• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• 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.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.

3 When it ends

• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Have a drink of water before you check anything.

4What to put on

brown noise — Lower and softer than white noise, closer to a waterfall heard from a distance. Good if white noise feels too hissy.