Focus session · planning · 25 min
Deep work timer: 25 minutes of planning (a washing machine), before something difficult
One block of planning with a washing machine underneath. One pomodoro, long enough to get somewhere and short enough to start.
25:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Put both feet flat on the floor and let them take some of the weight. It works best in the hour before something difficult. Straight through, at a normal pace.
1 Before you start
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
- Decide what counts as done for this block. "Two pages" is better than "make progress".
- If your mind is already racing, write down the three loudest thoughts before you begin.
- Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
2 While the timer runs
- If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- If you start tidying your desk, that is avoidance. Sit back down.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
3 When it ends
- Resist the urge to review the work straight away. Come back to it later with fresh eyes.
- Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
- Write down the question you could not answer, so it has somewhere to live.
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.