These months have been a challenge for all of us. Speaking of teleworking, even the experts don’t recommend calling it like that as they imply that we will associate working from home with a stressful situation. It is true that this situation is exceptional and that the technique I am going to talk about is designed for a normal teleworking situation, but surely it can help you to be a little more productive.
“I recommend to you to take care of the minutes; for hours will take care of themselves.”
Lord Chesterfield
The Pomodoro technique is recommendable when you are overloaded with tasks, meetings and you feel dispersed between different activities to do. Or maybe when your attention jumps from one thing to another easily.
If your situation is a bit like this, read this post… [Playlist included!] ?
How a cooking timer can help you be more efficient ⏲
But first, how does a tomato-shaped cooking timer relate to optimizing time in your job? The Pomodoro technique was created by Francesco Cirillo to improve the management of the time you spend on an activity.
The Pomodoro technique step by step ▪️ ▪️ ▪️
This time-boxing technique is very simple, it consists of:
- Choose which task or tasks you are going to perform
- Set the timer to 25 minutes
- You work on that task without interruption or loss of attention
- Stop when the 25 minutes are up
- Rest for 5 minutes, a coffee?
- You go back to work on that task
- After 3 or 4 “pomodoros”, take a longer rest: about 20-25min
- Repeat with the next task until you complete your goal!
This method is based on the balance between prolonged focus on a given task (no interruptions, calls, checking email, etc) and regular breaks to improve mental agility. When you try it, you will see that this state of uncertainty about the course of time is lost and you will feel more focused and concentrated on a task.
Benefits: more productivity and control ?
The benefits of this technique are an increase in daily productivity, it allows you to complete tasks, especially those of “low importance”, which are potentially procrastinating. This generates a greater daily satisfaction by meeting the objectives set.
You will also acquire an emotional well-being during the 25-minute “mini-sprints”, as you lose the situation of otherness and dispersion that usually grows with multi-tasking without concrete attention to anything for a long time. It is also used in technological development related to the agile world, pair-programming, or as a technique for teamwork.
Some music helps you concentrate ?
Obviously you don’t need to get the famous tomato-shaped timer, you can just set alarms on your mobile, use an online application like Pomofocus, or – YES! – listen to our playlist “Pomodoro Booster: Classical” on Spotify.
This playlist is designed mainly with classical and orchestral music that favors concentration, with long-lasting pieces so that you can associate the breaks with the musical pauses.
If you like music while working, you’ll enjoy this playlist when programming ?
Let’s hope that this time-boxing technique will help you in your day to day, and not only in your work tasks because time management is of vital importance, as the Greek philosopher Teofrasto.
“Time is the most valuable thing a person can spend”.
Teofrasto
Jesús López
Santander Global Tech
Inquisitive, restless and interested in indisputable things.
