Focus session · decluttering · 50 min
Deep work timer: 50 minutes of decluttering (a fireplace), if you are sceptical about all of this
One block of decluttering with a fireplace underneath. Fifty minutes, the length of a therapy hour, with ten minutes off afterwards.
50:00
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. Scepticism is welcome. You do not have to believe anything for this to work. This is a short one, so let's use the time properly.
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.
- Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
- Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
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.
- If a thought will not leave, give it one line on the page and return to the task.
- Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
- If your attention keeps sliding, shorten the next block rather than abandoning this one.
3 When it ends
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
- Have a drink of water before you check anything.
4What to put on
a fireplace — Crackles and a low roar underneath. Warm, irregular, and undemanding.
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