Focus session for decluttering: 50 minutes, a library, when you are at home and cannot settle

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.

3 When it ends

• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

a library — Almost nothing: distant footsteps, a chair, a page turning. Useful if you want the feeling of a room where work is normal.