Focus session · thesis writing · 50 min
Deep work timer: 50 minutes of thesis writing (a washing machine), if you are fitting this around other people
One block of thesis writing with a washing machine 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.
Let your eyes soften. Not closed, just less busy. It is designed to fit around other people’s schedules. This is a short one, so let's use the time properly.
1 Before you start
- Take one slow breath before you press start, so the session has a beginning.
- Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Close the door, or put headphones on, whichever signals "working" to the people around you.
2 While the timer runs
- If you are suddenly sleepy, stand up for ten seconds and sit back down.
- When you have drifted for the fifth time, that is still four returns. Keep going.
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
- Notice the moment your hand moves toward your phone. That moment is the whole skill.
3 When it ends
- Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
- Note what you actually got done, not what you meant to get done.
- If it went badly, note one thing that worked anyway. There is usually one.
4What to put on
a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.
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