Focus session for design work: 25 minutes, rain on a window, when nothing else has worked today

1 Before you start

• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.

3 When it ends

• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.

4What to put on

rain on a window — Steady rain is broadband noise with a slow natural rhythm. It masks speech and keyboard clatter without being interesting enough to listen to.