Focus session · decluttering · 50 min
A 50-minute block for decluttering, with café murmur, after eating too much
A single 50-minute block for decluttering — one surface at a time.
50:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Feel your ribs move. That is all the machinery you need to pay attention to right now. Do this sitting up, not lying down, if you have just eaten. Keep it simple: breath in, breath out, notice.
1 Before you start
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
- Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
- Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.
- Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
2 While the timer runs
- If you are stuck, say the problem out loud. It changes what you can see.
- If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
- When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
- It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
3 When it ends
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
4What to put on
café murmur — The blur of other people talking, with none of the words close enough to follow. Some people concentrate better with a low level of company.
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