90-minute decluttering session with vinyl crackle and a timer, when you are at home and cannot settle

1 Before you start

• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.

2 While the timer runs

• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.

3 When it ends

• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.

4What to put on

vinyl crackle — A thin layer of surface noise over nothing much. Just enough texture to stop the room feeling empty.