Focus session for reading: 90 minutes, rain on a window, if you are new to this

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.

3 When it ends

• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.

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.