Focus session · editing · 50 min
Focus session for editing: 50 minutes, a washing machine, when you need something unremarkable
50 minutes of editing, with a washing machine and a note on what to do when you drift.
50:00
Press start. The timer keeps time so you do not have to look at a clock.
Notice the temperature of the air on the backs of your hands. Nothing dramatic happens here, and that is deliberate. We'll go through it in order, without much decoration.
1 Before you start
- Go to the toilet first. It sounds trivial until you are mid-sentence.
- Tell yourself the goal is time spent, not output produced.
- Make sure your chair is at a height where your feet are flat on the floor.
- Accept that the first five minutes will feel like wading. Wading counts.
- Put the thing you keep reaching for out of arm's reach.
2 While the timer runs
- If the task suddenly feels impossible, make it smaller rather than stopping. One paragraph. One function. One row.
- Notice whether you are working or performing work. They look similar from the outside.
- It is fine to stare at the wall for a minute. That is often where the answer is.
- When you notice you have drifted, do not restart the block. Just come back and carry on counting from where the timer is.
3 When it ends
- Decide whether the next block is the same task or a different one. Do not drift into it.
- Do not immediately open the thing you were avoiding. Give the block a proper end.
- Write one line about where to start next time. Future you will be grateful.
4What to put on
a washing machine — Domestic, mechanical, and oddly steadying. The sound of something else being dealt with.
This page is a tool, not a course. Nothing is tracked, nothing is saved, and nobody is told whether you finished.