50-minute decluttering session with a washing machine and a timer, when you are on your own

1 Before you start

• Turn off notifications for the next block, not just to silent.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.

3 When it ends

• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.

4What to put on

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