By Ashley Snodgrass, Employee Benefits Analyst
If you are having a hard time structuring your workday, I would recommend trying out the Pomodoro Technique. It’s not just an Italian tomato, it’s also a fantastic time structuring system. I have found this method to be the best at keeping me focused on prioritizing the right tasks all day long. The essence of the technique is to work for a short stint (called a Pomodoro), then take a short break. After completing 4 Pomodoro’s, take a longer break. Continue to repeat the work/break cycle until you’ve completed your tasks for the day.
Here’s a great visual of what this technique looks like:
I prefer to use a visual timer such as this one to keep me on track. If novelty intrigues you, try this Tomato Timer or this YouTube Morning Forest Lofi Timer. If you prefer a timer that lives outside your computer, you could use your phone timer, or even a desk timer like this or this to keep track of your work time and break time.
Before I used the Pomodoro Technique, I treated my workday as one big sprint. I went from task to task, which often left me overwhelmed, burnt out, and lacking focus. By adding in structured breaks, my productivity and focus has increased significantly.
If you’d like to learn more about this technique and its benefits, I highly recommend referring to these below resources:
