Focus session for applications and forms: 45 minutes, birds at dawn, when you are doing this for the first time

1 Before you start

• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

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.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.

3 When it ends

• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

birds at dawn — Bright but not sharp. Better for early sessions than for late ones.