90-minute focus block for thesis writing — a washing machine, when you are short on time

1 Before you start

• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Choose one question to answer in this block, rather than a whole subject to cover.
• Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are bored, the boredom is usually the last thing before something clicks.
• When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.

3 When it ends

• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.
• Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
• Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.

4What to put on

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