Focus session for coding: 90 minutes, a washing machine, if you are tired of apps

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.

2 While the timer runs

• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.

3 When it ends

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

4What to put on

a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.