A 50-minute block for problem solving, with forest at dusk, when you feel restless rather than tired

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.

3 When it ends

• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

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.