A 90-minute block for design work, with brown noise, when you have been meaning to start

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• 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.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

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.