Focus session for coding: 25 minutes, forest at dusk, if you are fitting this around other people

1 Before you start

• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• 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 you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.

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.