SoftlyStillStart now

Focus session · planning · 25 min

25-minute focus session for planning with a washing machine, when you need something unremarkable

25 minutes on planning — on paper, so you can see it. One pomodoro, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to start.

25:00

Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.

Part of you is still in the last conversation you had. That's fine. It can sit here too. Nothing dramatic happens here, and that is deliberate. This is a short one, so let's use the time properly.

1 Before you start

  • Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
  • Promise yourself you will not check anything until the timer ends, including "just quickly".
  • Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
  • If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
  • Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

  • If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
  • When you finish a piece, pause for three seconds before starting the next. It keeps the pace honest.
  • If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
  • If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.

3 When it ends

  • Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
  • Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
  • Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.

4What to put on

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

This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.

If this block does not fit, try Focus session for reading: 45 minutes, café murmur, when you are too tired to try hard, 45-minute focus block for planning — a washing machine, when you are waiting for something or 50-minute thesis writing session with brown noise and a timer, when nothing else has worked today.