Focus session · exam revision · 90 min
Deep work timer: 90 minutes of exam revision (a washing machine), if you have five quiet minutes
One block of exam revision with a washing machine underneath. One full ultradian cycle, for work that needs a long runway.
90:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Let the floor take your weight through your feet, and stop holding yourself up for a second. Five quiet minutes is enough. Ten is generous. This works better when you don't overthink it.
1 Before you start
- Get water now, so you do not have to get up in fifteen minutes.
- Remind yourself that you are allowed to produce something mediocre in the first pass.
- Close every tab that is not needed for this one task. Not minimised — closed.
- Let go of the version of this task you imagined doing perfectly.
- Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
2 While the timer runs
- When you catch yourself re-reading the same sentence, stop and write down what you were looking for.
- If you feel restless, change your posture rather than your task.
- 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.
3 When it ends
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
- Roll your shoulders and your neck before the next block.
- 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.
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