A 50-minute block for brainstorming, with a washing machine, when you have been on screens all day

1 Before you start

• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
• Expect to want to stop at about the eight-minute mark. That is normal and it passes.
• Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
• If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.

3 When it ends

• Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.

4What to put on

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