Thursday, February 23, 2006

Anti-procrastination: "(10+2)*5"

This trick, called (10+2)*5 (from the neat productivity blog that inspired me to buy Getting Things Done, 43Folders.com) worked astoundingly well all four
times I've tried it, and I encourage you to give it a go if you want to
spend a solid hour (well 50 minutes) not procrastinating on some big horrible task (or dozens of little "mosquito" ones).

How it works, briefly: set a timer for 10 minutes and work solidly for that time. Then when the alarm goes off, set a timer and spend *2* minutes goofing off. Surfing the web, checking email, whatever. Then work 10 more minutes, then break 2 more, and repeat 5 times. Though often I don't make it to 5 before I start skipping breaks, having tricked myself into fully engaging with my work.

You can use this online timer with it.




Update: I now use this timer since it's more convenient: just go to the website, click Detach twice, and type 10 into the Minutes box of one and 2 into the other. Don't close the main window or the two child windows with your timers will close too.

No comments: