Use The Pomodoro Technique To Create Good Habits
Want to be more productive? Here's a mind hack that can help you break some bad habits, while also helping you to create some really good habits. And all you need is 25 minutes a day.
This Morning
This morning I got up at 6:15am. Drank two glasses of water, ate a bit of fruit, worked out for 20 minutes, then soldered/assembled circuit boards for about an hour all before 7:30am. Yep.. I said I soldered circuit boards (I'll explain later in this post).
Now, I'm writing a blog post about creating good habits. And it's not even 9:30am.
IYou see, as someone with complete control of their time each day, I have myself to blame when I'm not productive, or myself to pat on the back when I am. So I'm constantly trying mind hacks on myself to help increase productivity.
Without really realizing it, I've been using what amounts to the Pomodoro Technique enough of the time when I've had very productive days.
Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It's pretty simple. You break your day into intervals and completely focus for 25 minutes on a task, then take a short break (5-10 minutes) before you start on the next task.
- Start a 25 minute timer (a kitchen timer, phone app, etc)
- Put complete focus on a task for 25 minutes
- When the alarm goes off, STOP
- Take a 5 minute break
- Repeat steps #2-4 again
- After 4 cycles, take a 20 minute break
The idea behind this is we can only remain focused for so long. Since 25 minutes isn't some daunting amount of time to decide we're going to completely dedicate our focus on a task.
If you've never tried this, I suggest reading up on it and trying it for yourself. There's books dedicated to the Pomodoro Technique if you really want to get in-depth and learn some other tricks involved, but it really is as simple as what's outlined above.
So pick a task you can work on for 25 minutes. STAY COMPLETELY FOCUSED. Then take a small break. Try it today & you might find your productivity going through the roof!
Why It Works
Why does this work? Well, my guess is it boils down to MINDFULNESS. We can get a lot accomplished if we're mindful about how we're using our time. Focusing for 25 minutes on a specific task and reminding ourselves not to be distracted, causes us to be very mindful how that time is used. If we can't focus and have no plan for our time, we waste time.
And what is a day made of? Many, many minutes. If we take more control over small portions of time, they all add up.
I'm sure there's better explanations of how the human mind works and our lack of attention span these days, but I truly believe that mindfulness is the best explanation of what's happening. As much as looking at the second-hand of a clock seems to slow down time, we're creating a way to be more mindful of small chunks of time during our day.
Break Bad Habits
It's fair to say most of us probably have some bad habits we could kick to the curb. So how do you do that? Well, you start filling your time up with good habits.
I recently heard someone say the way to help someone lose weight is to tell them to eat more fruit. Don't say anything about eating less, or counting calories, or exercising more or anything else. Just eat more fruit. That's because the more fruit you eat, the less hungry you'll ultimately be and the more likely the next time you're hungry you'll grab fruit. The fruit displaces the junk food and it's a positive statement to say "eat more" instead of "eat less" of something.
Creating good time habits is no different
If we fill our time up with good habits, we start kicking bad habits to the curb.
Using Pomodoro To Create Good Habits
So how can we do a mind hack on ourselves to start creating good habits?
You guessed it! The Pomodoro Technique!
What better way to create good habits than something that doesn't require a lot of our time!
We hear about things like the Pomodoro Technique but we don't often associate them with creation of good habits. It just seems like something else to "try" and probably not have stick.
But, think about it. You're dedicating 25 minutes and focusing your time completely on a task during that time. You know you can do this be cause 25 minutes isn't *THAT* long. And you're productive in that 25 minutes. By being productive, you've moved forward.. you accomplished something, so it's going to feel much better than not having done anything at all.
I previouisly wrote about how affiliate marketing requires a bit of a "bird brain" mentality / focus to achieve success. That's what's going on when you use the Pomodoro Technique. You aren't allowing any distractions during the 25 minutes you focus on a task. You just work on the NEXT thing you want to accomplish. Don't worry about all the other next things, only the very next thing.
Automating Good Habits
While you're intentionally (or maybe we should say mindfully) using small chunks of time in your day, the time REALLY adds up. You accomplish big things, because you're productive for short bursts and actually getting something done.
Secretly though, behind-the-scenes, this is also creating good habits. That's the awesome "mind hack" part of the Pomodoro Technique.
Why? Well, it goes back to that "eat more fruit to lose weight concept".
The more time you fill up with small chunks of very productive time, the less time you have to be distracted or waste time. Two things can't exist in the same space at once. You can't be hungry as often if you're eating more fruit, and you're reaching for fruit enough that it becomes more of a habit.
It's Like Magic!
LIKE MAGIC, those bad habits start going by the wayside, without you having to THINK about how to kick the bad habits themselves.
Whether it's 25 minutes... or 15 minutes, or 22 minutes.. it doesn't really matter. The point is to dedicate a small chunk of time to a focused activity. To make a promise to yourself you'll stay completely focused on the task during that time. And to remember you can be DONE after that time. You can go do anything you want or switch gears into something completely different so you maintain a balance of other activities important to you in life.
JUST LIKE MAGIC, this will have you replacing bad habits with good ones. You'll be more productive and mindful about how you use those small chunks of time. And with any luck, you'll be surprising yourself at just how much you accomplish in a day!
Back To ME :)
I've mentioned I've used this mind hack without realizing it. In my other business, I assemble circuit boards from raw materials (blank pcbs, components, etc). Let me tell you, if you THINK about soldering thousands or tens-of-thousands of solder joints for 5-8 hours a day, that's enough to discourage you from even getting started!
Instead, I break the larger task into smaller chunks that I can handle and not really have to think about much. I'll sit down for 30-60 minutes and solder one type of component across all the boards. Then I'll just get up and leave. I'll go pack orders, I'll go put away dishes or vacuum, or work on learning something for affiliate marketing.
Regardless if I go back to solder more boards hours later, days later or weeks later, I still made a small amount of focused progress. I'm further ahead than not having done anything at all.
And, recently thinking about this.. dedicating small chunks of time to focused work/activity and consistently executing this activity is pretty much the text-book method of creating a habit.
You Can Use This Too!
By focusing your time in small chunks, you learn to be more mindful how you spend that time. You don't overwhelm yourself about EVERYTHING that needs to be done. Just the NEXT step.
A big reason we fail at creating good habits is we dread the amount of time the good habit's going to take. By dividing your day in small 25-minute chunks (or whatever bite-size non-overwhelming amount of time you want) you can put laser-like focus on getting something done. Those minutes add up into hours. And we can get some very productive days out of ourselves.
I don't know about you, but I think this is a mind hack method worth exploring more.
Just worry about the next 25 minutes. Then take a small break. Time will take care of the rest.
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