Focus session · editing · 90 min

90-minute editing session with a washing machine and a timer, when you feel fine and want to stay that way

Sit down, press start, and cut and tighten for 90 minutes. One full ultradian cycle, for work that needs a long runway.

90:00

Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.

Let the first out-breath be longer than the in-breath. Nothing dramatic, just longer. Feeling fine is a good reason to do this, not a reason to skip it. No preamble. We start with the body.

1 Before you start

  • Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
  • If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
  • Put your phone in another room, or in a drawer you cannot reach without standing up.
  • Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
  • Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.

2 While the timer runs

  • Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
  • When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
  • It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
  • 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

  • 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.
  • Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.

4What to put on

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

This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.