Deep work timer: 90 minutes of practising an instrument (distant traffic), when you cannot concentrate on anything else

1 Before you start

• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.

2 While the timer runs

• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

4What to put on

distant traffic — A low continuous wash from a road you are not on. Familiar and easy to stop hearing.