45-minute research session with a washing machine and a timer, when you want to finish something

1 Before you start

• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
• Decide what you will do if you get stuck: write the problem out, then move on.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.

2 While the timer runs

• The first urge to stop usually arrives early. Sit through it once and the second one is quieter.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.

3 When it ends

• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

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