Focus session for brainstorming: 50 minutes, forest at dusk, when you have woken up too early

1 Before you start

• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• 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.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.

3 When it ends

• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.

4What to put on

forest at dusk — Birds settling, leaves moving, nothing sudden. It works because it sounds like a place you can safely ignore.