Focus session for brainstorming: 50 minutes, distant thunder, when you need to stop thinking about work

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".

2 While the timer runs

• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.

3 When it ends

• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

distant thunder — Low rumbles with long gaps. Suits people who find sudden noises more distracting than constant ones.