Focus session · writing · 90 min
A 90-minute block for writing, with a washing machine, if you are new to this
A single 90-minute block for writing — the first draft, not the good version.
90:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
If you're tired, you can let that be true. Tired is allowed here. Nothing here assumes you have done this before. We'll be efficient and then you can get on with your day.
1 Before you start
- Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
- Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
- Decide that today's session does not have to be good. It has to happen.
- Clear the surface in front of you down to the thing you are working on.
2 While the timer runs
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
- When you get an idea for something else, park it. Do not follow it.
- It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
- When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
3 When it ends
- Stand up and move for at least two minutes. The break is part of the method, not a reward.
- Leave the file open if you are coming back. Closing it makes restarting harder.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
4What to put on
a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.