Focus session for problem solving: 25 minutes, rain on a window, when you are at home and cannot settle

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.

2 While the timer runs

• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.

3 When it ends

• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

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.