Try The Pomodoro Technique

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: Call Your Brain to Attention!

Competencies: self-development, managing self

Who benefits: I did, you can too

Consultant Usage: There is something in this book for any and all consultants and consultant activities

What’s it about? People keep reminding me that I am no Einstein.  So when I saw a course available on Einstein, I decided to take it just to find out what people meant.

One serendipitous outcome was the professor kept suggesting some great readings.  One such recommendation was Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School.  Now I don’t have to be that smart to know what you are thinking.  Something along the lines of “Puleeese don’t ask me to read another book.  I don’t have any time and I don’t have the mind to study the brain.”

Well, I won’t insist you read the book.  At first blush I had no intention to do so either.  But I did and it blew my mind (figuratively).  I can’t begin to tell you how well organized and well written this book is.  I read it like a thriller.  (Caveat: The book is filled with interesting facts, riveting stories, very, very helpful hints and occasional paragraphs of scientific explanations … I tended to jump over the scientific explanations much like I skip over the descriptions of the landscape as our hero is escaping a death squad.)

The book consists of an excellent introduction that captured me and 12 chapters, each devoted to one of the “12 Brain Rules”.  My favorites included “Exercise”, “Attention” and “Short Term Memory”.

I learned all I ever want to know about why we have Senior Moments; the last word on the Negative Effects of Multitasking: the Jennifer Aniston neuron; why babies are great scientists; and most importantly, the Pomodoro Technique (more about this in a moment).

I learned in a non-scientific way how the brain works.  Why most Power-Point presentations don’t work – in fact how deadly deceptive they are and why they often work against the presenter (good news, there is a suggestion on how to put them to good use – a suggestion that is often ignored).  I learned about the real benefits of an afternoon nap, one that I had previously discovered on my own but the book urges me to continue the practice.  I learned that most so-called recent advances in brain science are myths (or uneducated guesses) like the “Mozart Effect”.  (Damn, I liked that one until I read this book.)

I howled in delight when I read this: “If you wanted to create an educational environment that was directly opposed to what the brain is good at doing, you would probably invent something like a classroom.  If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain is good at doing, you would probably invent the cubicle.”

I mentioned above that one of the chapters in this book is called “Attention”.  I have never sought a second opinion, highly valuing my own, but I think I suffer from a mild case of ADD.  Damn, where am I going with this?

Oh yeah, I was going to describe one technique described in the book that addresses those of us with short attention spans and/or time management issues.  The technique is called the Pomodoro Technique.  After reading about it, I decided to give it a try.  Been using it for three days now.  Laugh if you will, but it works.

It involves using a kitchen timer, preferably one with a loud “ding”.  The way it works is pretty simple.  You divide your work into 25 minutes of concentrated effort followed by a mandatory 3 minute break.  It is amazing how focused you can get for a 25 minute period if you know you are going get “dinged” at the end.  And the three minute break gives me (you) time to reflect or absorb what I (you) just did.

I understand if you live in a cubicle you might not want to get “dinged”.  Then again, maybe you can be a trend-setter.  But I am telling you I have never been so productive as I have over these past three days.  (More detail: I limit my email time to one ding in the morning and one ding in the afternoon – no more email interruptions.)

Finally, in case you are wondering, I wrote this post in under three dings.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Now it is time for a walk.  Got to pay attention to the exercise chapter!

Catch you later.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.