Efficient and not stressed out!

No more multi-tasking! Discover the 25 minute method recommended by active girls on the web to get everything done, and done right. Stop Stress!

No more multi-tasking! Rediscover your efficiency and your serenity when you discover the Pomodoro Technique, a huge success in all the best start-ups!

Do you, like me, do 10 000 things at the same time? Do you have lunch while on the phone if you are in a café on your own? Do you have ten open files on your desk, not to mention your computer? Do you get your things together for the next meeting while wolfing down a sandwich? Gotcha!!

Did you know that multitasking is the best way to not really move forward with your projects and to multiply non priority mini tasks? That’s without talking about the amount of stress that is generated in your brain when you move from one task to another at the same time… with the result that the levels of the stress hormone cortisol increase in your system: you are tired, irritable and you gain weight. Now I have your attention!!

So, to do at least as much and certainly do it better, we suggest you go back to the basics of productivity: the Pomodoro Technique (from the Italian for tomato). This method was developed at the end of the 1980s in Italy and it is making a big comeback among computer developers to increase their efficiency and concentration.

It is childlike in its simplicity, but it requires a little discipline: it is about dividing your time into periods of 25 minutes of work, each called a pomodoro (tomato), during which you perform only one task. You allow yourself a 5 minute break between each pomodoro and one 20 minute break every 4 pomodori (the plural of tomato in Italian).

So simple! The goal is to limit interruptions: for 25 minutes you perform just one single activity, without answering the phone, or glancing at your FB feed, or at your colleague Lisa as she races to the coffee machine… we told you – 100% efficiency!

The first step is to list all the things that you need to accomplish in your day. Then group them together by type of activity and divide them into pomodori (25 minutes pieces). Set your timer for 25 minutes and get to work on the first task!

After 25 minutes, the buzzer rings! If you haven’t finished, the time is up! Get up, stretch, drink a glass of water or open a window…. If you need another pomodoro for the task in hand in order to finish, add it to today’s list, or tomorrow’s.

The first thing you will notice: you have to think about the feasibility of your day

The second thing you will notice: you group mini-tasks together, such as calling to make an appointment: it is better to make all the calls over a 25 minute period than spread them throughout the day and end up forgetting.

The third thing you will notice: you learn how to stop. For example, tidying your office drawer… you start and you end up spending the whole afternoon, because once you start with your desk, you move on to the filing cabinet… and you know the rest.

The fourth thing you will notice: you are extremely concentrated at the end of each pomodoro! You will rediscover the joy of accomplishing something.

Oh, I almost forgot: making phone calls and writing emails is a pomodoro in itself! If you are dealing with a file or other task, you can switch off your phone and ignore your mails. Simply set a Pomodoro every 90 minutes for emails and phone calls. What do you mean “that’s crazy”?! Not at all – it gives you time to handle information and not react automatically to everything that lands in your mailbox!

Try it! For example, to write this article, I took one pomodoro. Now I’m stopping (the buzzer has sounded) and I will finish it calmly tomorrow.

And if you are wondering why this method is called a tomato, it’s because the inventor had a timer shaped like a tomato when he perfected this technique at university….

PS: the method also works very well when it comes to the little angels’ homework and for the little devils’ homework once they start secondary school.