Focus session · thesis writing · 45 min
45-minute focus session for thesis writing with a washing machine, if you have done this a hundred times
45 minutes on thesis writing — sections, not the whole thing. 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.
Check your hands. Are they doing anything? Let them stop. If you have done this a hundred times, change one small thing tonight. This works better when you don't overthink it.
1 Before you start
- Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
- Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
2 While the timer runs
- When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
- Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
- If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
3 When it ends
- Put the notes you made where you will find them next time.
- Have a drink of water before you check anything.
- Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
4What to put on
a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.
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