Focus session · problem solving · 45 min

45-minute focus session for problem solving with a washing machine, when you have been putting it off

45 minutes on problem solving — before looking anything up. A single class period, the length most people can hold before the quality drops.

45:00

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. You have been putting this off. Starting is the only step that matters. No preamble. We start with the body.

1 Before you start

Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
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.

2 While the timer runs

When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.

3 When it ends

Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.

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 A 45-minute block for research, with a washing machine, before you go back to something hard, Focus session for admin and email: 25 minutes, café murmur, when you have already had a long week or 45-minute reading session with distant traffic and a timer, when you are short on time.