=Hey. Chad here, coming to you over the digital Airwaves on the 1% Better podcast.  I mentioned technique yesterday that I wanted to elaborate a bit more on for those of you that might not be familiar with them. So in conjunction with. The time timer I use a technique called the Pomodoro Technique.

[00:00:29] And Pomodoro is tomato in Italian the name comes from the kitchen timers that are a tomato that you kind of that are split in the in half and you can you know time your eggs or whatever you have in the oven.

[00:00:49] It's a genius way of using a simple tool like the kitchen timer to be really really productive. I want to give a big shout-out to Francesco [00:01:00] Chirillo who is the originator of this technique. And again, it's going to be so simple. You won't think that it works, but I'm a huge believer in it and use it practically every single day as I'm working to get get everything done 

[00:01:18] And it's just really three simple steps.

[00:01:21] The first thing is you write down the tasks that you would like to get accomplished. Not something as big as a project [00:01:30] not something may be as simple as just sending one quick email but something that could fill about a half an hour to maybe 90 minutes worth of time and I wouldn't list more than three things.

[00:01:46] Choose the one thing that you would be happiest accomplishing by the end of the day set your timer for 25 minutes and go. 

[00:01:56] The reason that this technique is so effective for me [00:02:00] is that I have a singular focus and all I'm doing is working on that one task. Now things may distract you but because you know, you have this timer going you somehow give yourself the permission to delay and say wow. Yes. I got that phone call, but they can wait 22 minutes because I have 22 minutes left on this timer, and I'm going to get this thing done because I know that if I get it done I'll be really happy at the end of the day. 

[00:02:28] So if you're trying to figure out which tasks you [00:02:30] should start first, I just try to imagine, "okay, which one would I be happiest having accomplished at the end of the day?" 

[00:02:39] Once the timer goes off and you haven't finished the task. That's okay because you will continue that task in the next in the next Pomodoro with that's what I call the little time segment. But you're not going to start working on it immediately, but you're going to take a five-minute break and I [00:03:00] take sometimes, you know between a five to ten minute break stand up go and get some water eat a little snack.

[00:03:08] I think it's really important to to get up. Maybe do a little stretching and move a little bit before you sit back down and do the next Sprint. This isn't the time to like tab over into Facebook or Twitter or check your email if you're working on something else because you're gonna you know, go down that [00:03:30] rabbit hole. I use it as a time to just take a break stand up walk around and come back.

[00:03:37] If you did finish the previous task, then just choose the next the next item on the list and again set the timer for 25 minutes and go.  Once you've done anywhere between three or four Pomodoro's I like to take a longer break, so I half an hour break or an hour long break and [00:04:00] that's when maybe you can listen to some podcasts brush up on the latest YouTube videos that maybe you've missed and and get distracted but. What you will have done is accomplished two to four most important things for that for that given day. And if you do this, you know first thing when you get in I have found that you can actually [00:04:30] accomplish more in four to six of these, you know, 25 minutes stretches then oftentimes I would get done and then the entire day.

[00:04:40] I would highly recommend just Googling the Pomodoro Technique. There's lots of free PDFs and guides and visuals that explain the technique you can use the timer on your phone and computer. That's all you need. You make your list of tasks that you want to do. You set the [00:05:00] timer for 25 minutes and then at the end of the 25 minutes set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes and take a break.

[00:05:07] And be sure that when you've gotten, you know, three to four five or six of these little work sprints completed take a longer break reward yourself before sitting down to do the next one's and know that you're getting the most important things done. 

[00:05:24] So I hope that little productivity hack was helpful to [00:05:30] you. I've been using it for years and it's probably the. The productivity hack that I return to most often in my day-to-day.  

[00:05:43] I'm curious what other sorts of productivity hacks you might have. So text me or leave a voice message at 917.971.3737 

[00:05:57]I can't wait to hear what you all [00:06:00] share and I just wanted to give a huge shout out and thank you to everyone that has commented, interacted, texted me.  Thank you so much for sharing.