Stay past the first distraction.
The first few minutes of demanding work can produce an urge to look elsewhere. An unanswered message feels suddenly important. Another idea offers an easier beginning. The work has not necessarily become wrong; it may simply have reached the point where attention is required.
Focus begins with a boundary. Decide what deserves this interval and what can wait. A clear question gives thought somewhere to return when it wanders. Under pressure, that return can matter more than the ambition to feel perfectly calm.
At the end, look for a changed circumstance: a decision made, a paragraph clarified, an uncertainty named. Time spent is context. What became clearer is the useful evidence.
THE TRANSFERABLE PRINCIPLEGive attention a boundary and a question worth returning to.