25-minute focus session for editing with a washing machine, if you have five quiet minutes

1 Before you start

• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• If you are dreading it, make the first action physical: open the file, sharpen the pencil.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.

3 When it ends

• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
• 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.