Deep work timer: 50 minutes of problem solving (a washing machine), when you are at home and cannot settle

1 Before you start

• Have a piece of paper beside you for the thoughts that will try to interrupt.
• Plan to leave the last two minutes for writing down where to pick up next time.
• Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
• Lower the bar until starting feels almost silly, then start.
• Write down the one thing you are going to do, in a single sentence, before you start.

2 While the timer runs

• When the timer feels too long, look at it less. The clock is not the task.
• When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
• If you feel the urge to check something, write it on the paper beside you and keep going. Deal with the list afterwards.
• Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.

3 When it ends

• Say the session is finished, out loud if you can. It marks the boundary.
• Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
• 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.