50-minute focus block for data work — a washing machine, when you have woken up too early

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Decide now what you will do when the timer ends. Otherwise the decision will eat the first five minutes.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
• If nothing is working, write badly on purpose for two minutes.
• 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.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.

4What to put on

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