Seven days, one minute at your desk before opening the laptop

Opening the laptop is a reflex.

Eight-fifty in the morning, I push open the door of the design room, my bag still in my left hand and my right hand already on the power button. The screen lights up before I have pulled out my chair. Email appears, the red dots on Zalo jump in after it, and the working day begins before I've noticed that I've arrived.

One morning Nhi, at the next desk, caught me standing there looking at my own desk.

"What are you doing staring at your desk?"

"Practising."

"Practising what?"

"Haven't worked that out yet."

That was the first time, and it was also when I decided to try it properly, seven days, and then report back. This piece is those seven days, along with the places where I forgot, laughed, and gave up for a bit.

This challenge is not a morning ritual, and it doesn't promise you'll work better. I'm not calling it meditation either. It is just one minute of sitting down and looking at a desk I had sat at a thousand times without looking at once, and only then opening the laptop.

One minute, and why the desk

I picked the desk because it stays still. A breath you have to catch, but a desk is simply there: the glass, the notebook, the charging cable, a dried water mark from last Friday. Nobody grades how you look at it.

I picked one minute because it is short enough to leave no excuse for skipping. And I picked the moment right before opening the laptop, because that is where the reflex runs fastest, the one place where, if you can wedge in a small gap, the gap has something to do.

There are only three rules. If you forget one day, carry on the next, no making up. If a day is too busy, cut it to ten seconds. And keep your eyes open the whole time.

Seven days

Day 1: Just ten seconds

Exercise: Sit down, touch nothing. Look at the desk for exactly ten seconds and count three things on it in your head. Then open the laptop as you would any day.

Time: Ten seconds. Note: The first day is deliberately made so easy it is funny. I forgot at first, had to close the laptop and open it again, and Nhi saw all of it.

Day 2: Name three things

Exercise: Look at the desk for about a minute and name three objects in three words: glass, notebook, cable. Then find one more detail you've never noticed: a scratch, a half-peeled sticker.

Time: One minute. Note: That day I saw a faint ring on the wooden surface left by an old glass. I have sat at this desk for two years and never looked at it.

Day 3: Add your hands

Exercise: Look at the desk as you did yesterday, then lay your palm flat on it. Notice whether it feels cool or warm, smooth or raised in places. If you like, listen for one more sound in the room.

Time: One minute. Note: If you feel silly on this day, let yourself feel silly. I did, because Khoa walked past and asked if I was checking for signal. Five senses, five minutes has a few more ways of bringing your attention back to where you are sitting.

Day 4: A light day

Exercise: It doesn't have to be a whole minute. Just remember before opening the laptop, give the desk one look, and let out one breath. If you don't remember, let it go.

Time: A few seconds. Note: A day off for me. I managed exactly three seconds, then forgot, then remembered at noon while picking at my greens.

Day 5: One question

Exercise: Look at the desk for a minute, then ask yourself silently: what is the first thing I mean to do this morning? Say it as one short sentence, then open the laptop and notice whether the first email pulls you somewhere else.

Time: One minute. Note: That morning I meant to fix a client's drawing, and the first email was about something else. I read it, replied, then went back to the first job. Some people will find this trivial. To me it was the first time I chose a task before a task chose me.

Day 6: Remove one thing

Exercise: While you look at the desk, choose one thing that no longer needs to be there: an old sticky note, a snack wrapper, a pen that has run dry. Pick it up, drop it in the bin, then open the laptop.

Time: One minute. Note: I threw out three sticky notes from last month. One said "call the AC repairman," which I had done long ago. The desk felt a little lighter, and that is all I can say about it.

Day 7: Look back

Exercise: Look at the desk as on any other day. At the end of the day, write three lines: which days you remembered, which you forgot, and whether that minute ever made you notice something else.

Time: One minute in the morning, three in the afternoon. Note: If three lines feel too few, seven mindfulness questions for the end of the day can stand in.

If you drop out halfway

I skipped two days, and I think many people will. The first reason is forgetting: the hand is faster than the head, and every day you open the laptop before you remember. What helped me was setting my water glass right on the power button, so I had to lift it off before opening. It looks silly, but it works.

The second reason is that it doesn't suit you. Some people feel restless looking at a desk, or feel they are wasting a minute while messages pile up. That is fine. Try standing and looking out of a window for one minute, eyes open, or drop this exercise altogether and use turning off notifications for one hour a day in its place. What to keep is a small gap between stepping into your workplace and starting work. Where it sits is up to you.

If you feel heavy every morning on the way to work, and don't want to open the laptop for weeks on end, that is worth telling someone with the training to help, and a minute at your desk will not be enough.

The next Monday morning, I push open the door of the design room, put down my bag, pull out my chair. The sun has fallen in a stripe across the faint ring of the old glass.

I look for a while. Then I open the laptop.