Holidays are slowing down the fitness questions, so instead of doing my regular live this evening to answer the ones I’ve received, I’m going to write something I’ve been wanting to put out for a while now.
About a year ago, I discovered something called the Pomodoro technique. I’ve since modified it a bit for my own personal needs, but to give you the shortest possible version of what this is, you set a timer for a (realistic) duration that it should take you to accomplish a task, and you focus on nothing, NOTHING, except for that task until the timer goes off.
If you do get distracted, then you start the time block over. If you think of something else that’s important during that time, then you write it down somewhere and continue focusing on the task at hand. This is traditionally done in increments of 25 minutes.
Once the 25-minute timer dings, you take a 5-minute break to do things not work related. Use the bathroom, go for a short walk outside, get more coffee, cry if you hate your work, etc.
Then, once the 5-minute break timer dings, you jump into your next 25-minute work block. After you’ve repeated this four times, you take a longer, usually 25-minute, break before jumping into another round of “pomodoros.”
Now, like I mentioned, I’ve adapted it for myself a bit. For my administrative, computer tasks, I follow it pretty closely, but due to the way my brain works, I do allow myself to jump around between tasks a little here and there when what I’m working on is particularly boring but necessary.
Also, some of my tasks are physical or involve driving or phone calls, so I create larger time blocks for them (think hours instead of minutes).
I was already somewhat scheduled before I began implementing this technique, but I can honestly say that this has, at a minimum, tripled my productivity.
The reason this works so well is found in a principle known as Parkinson's Law, which states that “work expands to fill the time allotted.”
If you just read that and didn’t believe it to be true, then make yourself do a “time journal” for ONE day. Set an alarm on your phone to go off every 20 minutes, and when it does so, stop and write down what you are doing at that time. I know it sounds obnoxious, but it’s one day that will teach you a lesson that helps you for the rest of your life. Or, you could just trust me and skip this step.
If you do it though, you will be AMAZED at how much time you waste scrolling social media, sitting on the toilet, engaging in pointless small talk, having your time wasted in inefficient meetings, replying to emails and messages that are constantly flooding your inboxes, and more distractions than you can possibly imagine.
Why does this happen? Because we believe the myth that there’s plenty of time. We allow our work to expand to fill way more of our previous time than it actually needs.
Let me remind you friends, time is the only resource we can’t get more of. We can make more money. We can sleep, get caffeine, or preferably both, to replenish our energy. But time? Once it’s gone, you’ll never see it again.
You might think that this method sounds stressful. It can be. It’s a race against the clock that I, personally, find exciting, but can see why others wouldn’t share that.
But let me tell you, if you create the time blocks well, then it’s actually so freeing. Imagine a life when you can be fully present in what you’re doing without being stressed or discouraged that you didn’t accomplish something that needed to be done. Family time or time with friends without thinking about work. Focused tasks without constant distractions. Extra tip: Set your phone to “do not disturb,” or whatever the Android equivalent is, during this.
And if you are someone who works in a place where you can’t prevent all distractions, don’t give up on this. It may need to be modified, but it CAN be used. Even half trying it will help you more than you realize.
If you give this system, or some variant of it, a try, be ready to get more done than 90% of people you know, and get 20% fewer hernias from too much time on the toilet.
✌️
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