45-minute exam revision session with a washing machine and a timer, when you cannot concentrate on anything else

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.

2 While the timer runs

• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• 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.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
• Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.

4What to put on

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