Focus session for coding: 50 minutes, distant traffic, when you have already had a long week

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.

3 When it ends

• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

4What to put on

distant traffic — A low continuous wash from a road you are not on. Familiar and easy to stop hearing.