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Productivity tips?

3 points by johnfelix ↗ HN
Hi guys...I find it a bit hard to concentrate on the work and motivate myself to get the work done. I just find excuses to read books, watch some movie etc. Would you guys mind to share some productivity tips and the kind of schedule that you follow. Thanks :)

3 comments

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Construct
Try the Pomodoro Technique. Give yourself 25 minutes to focus, and absolutely force yourself not to do anything else but the task at hand. No exceptions. When the 25 minutes are up, you have 5 minutes to relax and unwind. Force yourself to do anything but work for these 5 minutes. I'd strongly recommend leaving your computer/workspace and walking around rather than browsing the internet, but to each their own. Again, no exceptions on the not working part though. When the 5 minutes are up, get back to work.

Adjust the time intervals as appropriate. I tend to prefer 45/10 but other days I do the original 25/5.

There are plenty of pomodoro timer applications for every OS. My favorite for windows is pomodairo: http://code.google.com/p/pomodairo/ and I can't recall the name of my Mac OS X timer at the moment, but I'm sure you'll find it with a little searching.

Here is the original website for the technique: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

RBerenguel
Upvoted, this "is it". When I was down, I went to timeboxing and it worked wonders. I changed a little bit how I do it: I allocate to each task just a little less time than I expect it to finish (for example, doing the dishes in 7 minutes instead of 10). Then I have a pressure to finish that seems to motivate me. I wrote about that in my blot (Google for timeboxing mostlymaths if you'd like to read it ;)

Give it a try, it can make a real difference.

tyng
Read the productivity bible "Getting Things Done" (GTD), which outlines a systematic approach to get yourself more organised and ready to take actions.

If in doubt, just google "GTD" to find out more. There are tons of third-party applications to help you implement the system