POMODORO

You know that John Travolta movie Phenomenon? One day this quiet guy wakes up and his mind is reeling with all these ideas and thoughts? Thats kinda like me.. except.. dumber. My mind isnt filled with concepts of nuclear fission just randomized things about work, family, things I want to do, places I want us to visit, my place in society. Meaning of life kinda things.

I dont recall always being this way. Im not certain if its a reaction to middle-age and a more acute sense of the time we have left, or if I have some sort of alien growing inside my brain. Or maybe its a side effect of ‘smart devices’ and the fact that we have at our fingertips the answers to any question that pops into our curious little minds.

Either way, as a father, husband, and business owner, time management and focus have been things that I’ve struggled with for years and the advent of smart devices and push notifications havent helped. You sit down to spend some uninterrupted time on a project or task only to be pulled in different directions by pop-ups, email alerts, and notifications and badges.

But I believe Ive finally found something that works. Something so simple, yet highly effective.

Based upon the suggestion of Jesse Itzler, I decided to implement one new skill each quarter. So for the first quarter I started using the Pomodoro time management technique.

Admittedly I went in skeptical. But this simple tactic has significantly improved both my focus and productivity.

If you’re not familiar with what Pomodoro is (other than a tasty pasta sauce) it is simply a timer that is set for focusing on a specific task or context. Followed by a period of ‘rest’ which could be anything from walking around the house to stretching or a short meditation.

Ive found that the typical 25/5 minute cycle works really well. Enough to keep momentum on a project or task, but not so long that if Im working on a personal project and a work email comes in, it hasn’t been sitting in my inbox for an hour. Then the 5 minute rest period which you can go for a quick walk, stretch, get some water, even knock out some push ups, squats or sit ups.

The simple act of focusing on a task or context for a period of time has really helped. It is even something weve started using with our son to help him get the wiggles out while doing homework.

Any timer can work be it on your phone, watch, or a standalone timer of which there are a number of them specifically for Pomodoro time management. Though I usually avoid loading up my phone with extra apps in an effort to keep my digital overhead as low as possible, I came across Forest and it is actually pretty fun and helpful.

For every round of focusing that you do, a virtual tree is planted and over time your can see a forest of productivity growing. You also earn virtual coins that can be turned in to get other types of trees or garden ornaments to spruce up your garden. On top of which the company uses the revenue from the app sales to help with re-forestation efforts.

Apart from Forest, there are a number of apps and devices available but I would strongly suggest you look for one that is minimalist and doesn’t try to do too much other than a timer. No need to integrate with a calendar, or a todo list, or invoicing, in my opinion. However having categories of focus time I have found quite helpful. For example: Work, Personal Projects, Honey-do etc. I have also found keeping it general to be better than overly specific; lest you get drug down into technical bureaucracy. These broad categories will provide a little context to help you focus on the appropriate tasks at hand.

If you try it out, please let me know what you think.

Dev