The pomodoro technique

If you are the kind of person who easily gets distracted with emails, phone calls and minor tasks, you may find the Pomodoro Technique useful.

technique: 

1. get a count-down timer
2. pick a task
3. set the timer to 25 minutes (aka. a pomodoro)
4. work on the task, with no interruptions until the pomodoro ends.
5. add an(other) 'X' mark next to the task (even if it's not completed).
6. take a short break (3-5 minutes). after four pomodoros, take a longer break.
7. while task not complete, go to step 3.
8. after a task is completed, count the number of X's to get a sense of the time spent on it.

justification:

• time management should be simple
• frequent breaks improve mental agility [ref which I don't really understand :-)]
• increased awareness of the time spent
• reduce the time spent on distractions

caveats:

I've been following the pomodoro technique for a little over a month now, and I think it did help me spend the time more efficiently (at least when I'm serious about it). I'd like to highlight a few problems and how I attempted to fix them:

problem: just because you shouldn't be distracted in the middle of a pomodoro doesn't mean you won't. 

solution: every time I get unnecessarily distracted, I punish myself by resetting the pomodoro.

problem: the short break is too short.

solution: make it a little longer. I found 10 minutes to be a reasonable time.

problem: when tasks take too many pomodoros, I lose any sense of achievement.

solution: spend the first couple minutes of a pomodoro thinking about the focus in this pomodoros. then, spend the last couple minutes of a pomodoro documenting what you have accomplished (regardless of how little/insignificant it was).

complementary tools:

While I found this technique to be quite effective, it doesn't address all time management problems. I use rememberthemilk and github issues to track my tasks and prioritize. I keep all my time-constrained commitments on the calendar to make sure I'm not double booked. ...etc