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Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,

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Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the

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Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more

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Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to use

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Speaker 1: a timer to define twenty five minutes of work. When

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Speaker 1: it's hard to focus, twenty five minutes sprints can help

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Speaker 1: you accomplish your most important tasks. Don't get distracted by

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Speaker 1: ruminating on your lack of time. Instead, set your timer

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Speaker 1: and get to work because you can do a lot

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Speaker 1: in twenty five minutes. The Pomodoro technique, as this approach

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Speaker 1: is known, was developed by Francesco Cirillo. The name comes

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Speaker 1: from the classic kitchen timer that's shaped like a tomato

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Speaker 1: pomodoro in Italian, but any timer will work. Here's how

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Speaker 1: the Pomodoro technique works. Identify a task or a component

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Speaker 1: of a task that you need to do, set your

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Speaker 1: timer and get started. When the timer goes off, make

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Speaker 1: a check mark to indicate you've completed twenty five minutes

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Speaker 1: of solid work on the task. Take a short break,

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Speaker 1: then repeat the process until you've completed four pomderas, that is,

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Speaker 1: for twenty five minutes sprints. At that point, take a

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Speaker 1: slightly longer break, and start the process again. I think

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Speaker 1: there are a few reasons that this method works for

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Speaker 1: many people. First, you have a clear goal. You know

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Speaker 1: what you need to do. You don't sit down just

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Speaker 1: to work for twenty five minutes. You have a specific

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Speaker 1: accomplishment you're working toward. Second, you're focusing on nothing but

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Speaker 1: that goal for twenty five minutes. You're monotasking. While plenty

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Speaker 1: of people take pride in their ability to multitask, they

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Speaker 1: are usually overestimating their abilities. And if we're honest with ourselves,

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Speaker 1: we probably know that we've all had days when we've

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Speaker 1: had multiple projects in play, plus a continual stream of

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Speaker 1: emails and techs and other interruptions, and we haven't made

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Speaker 1: progress on anything. Multitasking feels efficient, but it's not. I

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Speaker 1: think another reason the Pomodoro technique works is that you

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Speaker 1: have a fixed amount of time available. Plenty of tasks

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Speaker 1: can expand to take up whatever time you give them.

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Speaker 1: When you know your time is limited, you work more efficiently.

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Speaker 1: Some people even like to use a mechanical timer. Hearing

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Speaker 1: the ticking and the movement of the dial makes the

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Speaker 1: time more concrete, you work with a sense of urgency. Now,

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Speaker 1: not all work lends itself to this sense of racing

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Speaker 1: against the clock. When I'm editing a book manuscript, for instance,

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Speaker 1: I like to wallow in time. I don't want to

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Speaker 1: chop it up into twenty five minute blocks. Anything where

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Speaker 1: you might achieve a real sense of flow might not

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Speaker 1: be the best choice for the Pomodoro technique. But even

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Speaker 1: for these flow activities, there's an upside to pomodoros. Right now,

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Speaker 1: many of us are working with kids around. If you

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Speaker 1: don't have someone to care for your kids while you're working,

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Speaker 1: maybe the kids can learn to let mom or dad

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Speaker 1: work for twenty five minutes without interruption. Even a preschooler

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Speaker 1: might be able to understand the idea of a ticking

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Speaker 1: timer and might respect it if they get a parent's

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Speaker 1: attention for a while afterwards. That way, you at least

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Speaker 1: get some focus time, even if you'd prefer hours. If

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Speaker 1: you need a little bit of extra help entertaining the kids,

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Speaker 1: I'll point out that plenty of children shows clock in

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Speaker 1: at about twenty two minutes. That's just about a pomodoro,

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Speaker 1: And frankly, we all have work that isn't about flow

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Speaker 1: and that really would benefit from monotasking sprints. If you're

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Speaker 1: getting up two hours before your household to crank some

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Speaker 1: stuff out, best not to get distracted during this time.

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Speaker 1: Aiming for four pomodoros might be your best shot at

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Speaker 1: using this time as efficiently as possible. So think through

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Speaker 1: your days. What kind of work would benefit from twenty

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Speaker 1: five minutes of intense focus? When could you find twenty

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Speaker 1: five minutes? Even just getting five or six twenty five

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Speaker 1: minutes sprints in a day might mimic a full day

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Speaker 1: of work in a distracted office. Because when you do

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Speaker 1: absolutely nothing else you can get a lot done in

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Speaker 1: twenty five minutes. You might be amazed at all you

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Speaker 1: accomplish in the meantime. This is Laura, thanks for listening,

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Speaker 1: and here's to succeeding in the New Corner Office. The

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Speaker 1: New Corner Office is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts,

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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.