Focus session for editing: 45 minutes, birds at dawn, on a low-energy afternoon

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.

4What to put on

birds at dawn — Bright but not sharp. Better for early sessions than for late ones.