Focus session · practising an instrument · 45 min
45-minute practising an instrument session with a washing machine and a timer, when you have woken up too early
Sit down, press start, and drill the hard bars for 45 minutes. 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.
Let your tongue rest down, away from the roof of your mouth. Waking too early is a specific kind of frustrating. This helps with the frustration. This works better when you don't overthink it.
1 Before you start
- Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
- Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
2 While the timer runs
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
- If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
- If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
3 When it ends
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
- 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.
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