Focus session for applications and forms: 90 minutes, a library, before you go back to something hard

1 Before you start

• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.

3 When it ends

• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.