Fighting Procrastination

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Fighting Procrastination

One of the many and most persistent issues that we deal with us professionals is the issue of fighting procrastination. It's problematic in that it appears when we want least to have to deal with it and when our projects are either urgent important or take a tremendous amount of effort.

Oftentimes techniques like keeping a to-do list don't do much to help the issue of procrastination because some of the tests are long and complex. I've come across a new technique that seems to address these kinds of projects rather well. It's called the Pomodoro Technique.

One of the things that I like about it is that it focuses on acting executing on the tasks that need to occur as opposed to planning or organizing. There is a stage where that happens but it happens at a more operational level than in typical to-do lists and project plans.

It consists of 25 minute cycles of work and then a reward for diligence rather than for task completion.  The reward comes as 5 minutes of focusing on something other than work. This cycle repeats 4 times and at the end of the fourth cycle you get 15 minutes of reward at which time you've accomplished diligently working on a given task for an extended period of time with reward as opposed to punishment to motivate you.

There is more to the SEC Nique then I've described here but I give you the highlights so that you get an idea of how it is different from other time management and productivity techniques that you may have.

In the end it is important to find a technique that works best for you.  The only true way to measure effectiveness is by how much are you getting done and how much effort it takes to keep that pace. The effort relates directly to the  sustainability of this practice.  Sustainability/persistance being the goal to any success.

I have included a link to the book I found on audible.com. I was really impressed by this book and how it explains the technique. I liked it so much that I've listened to it twice already. Please let me know what you think of this technique of the book and of any technique that you use to help you be more productive and how you fight procrastination.


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