The Pomodoro Technique

Finding motivation to work is always difficult on Monday mornings, but today was especially difficult. I had managed to put off all of the really mundane aspects of my job for so long that I had no choice but to complete them today. Faced with all of my boring tasks, I decided that it would be the perfect time to test out the Pomodoro Technique. Let me preface this by saying that I have not read the book on this technique. I somehow ended up on the website and was intrigued.

The technique is a simple way to increase productivity. You make a list of the things that you want to accomplish, pick a single task, and then set the timer for 25 minutes. When your buzzer sounds, then you take a five minute break, check off the task, and move onto something else. I used an online timer that can be found here. In the morning this process was really effective for me because I got into work, didn’t want to get started, and then thought, “Well, 25 minutes is shorter than a half hour. That’s not too bad.” As the day went on I found myself struggling to stick to the schedule. My biggest problem was that I would find myself getting into something (either on my break or with work) and then I was pulled away. I’m going to clear some space on my computer so that I can download the book. I hope that it will offer ways to avoid breaking my working rhythm. The one thing that I can say is that it definitely offered me the motivation to get started. If this sounds interesting to you check out the website. You can even download the book in PDF format for free.

What do you do to motivate yourself?