A 50-minute block for data work, with brown noise, when you cannot concentrate on anything else

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.

3 When it ends

• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• 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.

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.