A 25-minute block for data work, with a washing machine, if you have done this a hundred times

1 Before you start

• Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
• Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
• Dim the screen slightly. Bright screens make long sessions harder than they need to be.
• Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
• When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
• If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.

3 When it ends

• Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
• Take the break away from the screen, even if it is just the other side of the room.
• 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.