Focus session for problem solving: 90 minutes, café murmur, on a day that started badly

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• 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 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.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.

3 When it ends

• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
• Have a drink of water before you check anything.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.