For Anyone Who Works From Home: The Focus Rule Pilots Use Below 10,000 Feet
Four minutes in, a ping, and your focus is gone. Pilots run a 'sterile cockpit' below 10,000 feet — no talk that isn't flying the plane.
You sit down for the one hour of deep work that actually matters today. Four minutes in, a message pings, you glance, and the thread you were holding is gone. If you work from home, that is most mornings.
Pilots have a rule for this. Below 10,000 feet we run a "sterile cockpit": no conversation that is not about flying the aircraft. No small talk, no stories, no photo of the sunset. Above 10,000 feet, in the cruise, we open a larger circle of interaction, including with the cabin crew.
Does it sound familiar? I recently wrote about the Pomodoro method - 25 minutes deep work, then 5 minutes break. Link in the footnote.
Why the line? Because below 10,000 feet is where the work is most dangerous. Takeoff, landing, and high-airspace congestion are where things go wrong, and special attention is required.
You have a 10,000-foot line in your own day. The first hour at the desk (2 Pomodoro cycles.) The first 25 minutes with your child. The last kilometre of a hard run. The cost of an interruption in those windows is out of all proportion to its size.
Most people run it backwards. Phone within reach during the hard task, then scrolling notifications in the middle of dinner.
The fix is simple, not easy. Name your 10,000-foot line. Silence everything. No Slack, no phone face-up, no "quick email."
When you are below 10,000 feet, you fly the aircraft. Nothing else gets in.
