Focus session for writing: 50 minutes, white noise, when you are waiting for something

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Decide in advance that a bad sentence is still progress.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.

2 While the timer runs

• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.

3 When it ends

• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Have a drink of water before you check anything.

4What to put on

white noise — Flat across all frequencies and very effective at covering speech. Some people find it harsh after an hour; keep the volume low.