The Power of the Pomodoro

Tomatoes; as I type this whilst sitting in the car, Jules is in Lidl shopping for tomatoes…

Yup, we’re living the dream as entrepreneurs!

The thing is, life goes on. 

Unless you’re a gazzillionaire and have people to do your shopping and general lifey things, then stuff has to get done.

My challenge used to be how to fill those small gaps in your day when in-between bigger tasks.

Don’t get me wrong, I often help with the shopping (no, really, I do…), but again when you work in a partnership you have to know how to best make use of your time and play to your strengths.

So Jules and I agree that if we go to the shops together, I’ll work in the car whilst she gets some trolley action in.

And to make my time effective, I use the Pomodoro technique…

This is where you set yourself 25 minutes to get some deep work done. 

All distractions turned off; phones, radio, alerts, and then seriously get your teeth into one task. A bit like writing this blog…

25 minutes seems to be the sweet spot. 

Any longer and you start to drift and become less productive. So when the time is up, get up and move around, grab some water, have a stretch, whatever you need to do to re-set the focus.

By doing this I have regained so much more time in my day…

Before I would think that I couldn’t really get anything done in these gaps. I’d faff around on Social Media and other useless tasks just to fill the time.

But now, I can often regain a good couple of hours in my day. Add that up into weeks and months and you can get a shed load more done.

The Pomodoro is also a timer you can get either as an app or a physical tomato type thing that you set your 25 mins on.

Honestly, it works a treat for me and allows me to pick off those small items on my daily task list.

So if you’re one of those people who thinks ‘where the hell am I going to find the time to start my online business?’, start filling in the gaps with the red tomato.

2 x 25 minute sessions a day will yield you 304 extra hours a year.

Right then, here comes Jules with her trolley, must dash…