25-minute focus block for practising an instrument — a washing machine, when you have already had a long week

1 Before you start

• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Remember that motivation usually arrives after starting, not before.
• Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.

4What to put on

a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.