A 90-minute block for portfolio work, with brown noise, when you feel restless rather than tired

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.

2 While the timer runs

• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.

3 When it ends

• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• 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.