A 50-minute block for design work, with forest at dusk, when the house is busy

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.

2 While the timer runs

• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• 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

• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.