Deep work timer: 45 minutes of editing (a train carriage), when you cannot concentrate on anything else

1 Before you 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.
• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• 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

• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

a train carriage — Rhythmic, low, and slightly rumbly. Many people find the motion-and-noise combination easier to work to than silence.