90-minute focus block for studying — a washing machine, when you are not sure this will work

1 Before you start

• Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
• Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

• 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.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Have a drink of water before you check anything.
• Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.

4What to put on

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