Focus session for brainstorming: 90 minutes, brown noise, when you cannot concentrate on anything else

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.

2 While the timer runs

• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.

3 When it ends

• 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.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

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.