Focus session for coding: 45 minutes, a fireplace, after eating too much

1 Before you start

• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.