Focus session for applications and forms: 25 minutes, brown noise, when you need something unremarkable

1 Before you start

• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".

2 While the timer runs

• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• 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

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.

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.