Timing activities

 

  Yesterday I learned, the hard way as usual, that I need to decide beforehand how much time I’m willing to devote to an activity. I have the same difficulty managing my time as some people have managing their spending with a credit card. When I have a million things to do, but deadlines that are weeks away if they exist at all, the cost of wasting time isn’t immediately obvious. It accumulates slowly without drawing your attention until you get close to one of those rare deadlines or even rarer moments of clarity where you stop, look back and can’t understand what you’ve been doing for the last month. Much like a credit card bill.

  One of my main defenses against wasting time is the Pomodoro technique. The central concept is that you promise a set amount of uninterrupted work, usually 20-30 minutes, and in return get a guaranteed break at the end. No matter how lazy you are feeling, you can always work for just 20 minutes, right? For Android owners, I recommend Pomodroido, which comes in both Free and Pro versions. I like the aesthetic of the app so much, that I’m more motivated to stick to the technique just so I can use it. Unlike a lot of productivity pr0n apps it is also so simple that it doesn’t become a distraction itself.

  So if the Pomodoro technique is for motivation, what does it have to do with timing my activities? Very simply, pomodoros offer a great time unit. For example, I’m only devoting one pomodoro to this blog post. Yesterday I didn’t measure pomodoros, but if I had it would have been enough to make a lasagna.

  My pomodoro is calling…