Deep work timer: 25 minutes of writing (a washing machine), when your attention is scattered

1 Before you start

• Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
• Give yourself permission to stop when the timer ends, even mid-sentence.
• 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.
• Set the timer where you can see it, or where you can deliberately not see it.

2 While the timer runs

• Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.

3 When it ends

• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• Leave the desk tidier than you found it. Two minutes now saves ten later.
• Look out of a window for thirty seconds. Your eyes have been at one distance for a while.

4What to put on

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