I don’t know about you, but I myself am quite the procrastinator. I frequently have to trick myself into working. One of the tricks that work really well for me, is the Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo. It’s a way to create focus and a mini deadline by timing out intervals of work.
I do most of my writing in 20-minute pomodoros and I’ve also seen it work for a wide variety of other people and teams. E. g. it’s really great for turn taking in pair programming.
If you’ve never tried it, give it a go:
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Content of 1-Pager:
Pomodoro Technique
Want to get stuff done but you are prone to procrastinate and get distracted easily? Try the Pomodoro Technique for time-limited bursts of productivity.
A pomodoro – an interval of work time – is short and indivisible. The goal is to reduce internal and external interruptions of focus and flow.
These are the six steps:
1) Decide on the task to be done
2) Set the timer to 25 minutes
3) Work on the task
4) When the timer rings, take
a short break of 5 minutes
5) Go back to Step 2) – until you complete four pomodori
6) After four pomodori, take a longer break of 20 or 30 minutes. After the long break, return to Step 2)
Sources:
- 15 years of experience working in an environment that pomodoros all the time
- Wikipedia