#24 of 37 Lessons – Take Breaks

Take Breaks – I’m back after a long break – at least a long break from blogging. It boggles my mind that I haven’t dropped a blog since April 26th. Sorry about that, but not sorry about that either. I took a break and was busy on my break. What did I do? Started and completed a consulting project. Hosted family from far and wide (Texas, Hawaii and Massachusetts) for some great times at the lake. Hosted close friends for the Fourth of July. Traveled to Boston, Orlando and Linville, NC. Bought a new car. Sold a bunch of books. Spoke at two national conferences. Cooked up a storm, floated in the lake, took boat rides, went back to the gym and savored life.

Despite the break described above, my break from blogging isn’t really want I want to address today regarding taking breaks. What I’m getting at is something called The Pomodoro Technique. This technique is used to supercharge productivity. I’m using it to write this blog today. The technique was invented by Francesco Cirillo. He called it Pomodoro after the tomato-shaped timer he used to implement the technique.

It’s rather simple actually. Cirillo advocates performing nothing but the task at hand in segments of 25 minutes each. After 25 minutes, take a short break of 5 minutes or so. After the fourth segment, take a longer break of up to 30 minutes. In my five-minute breaks, I get up, get a drink of water, make a cup of coffee, go to the restroom, or pet the dog at my feet. Then, it is right back at it until the task is done. After my fourth segment, I might go for a short walk, stretch, return a phone call, or simply zone-out. It’s as easy as that. Putting focus on the job at hand without distraction causes the task to vanish in a hurry.

And…remember, as they say, “Eat the ugly frog first.” That’s the toughest task on your plate. When it’s gone, your day gets better as you go. How about some tomato sauce with your frog? While this blog wasn’t my ugly frog, I finished it with eight minutes to go on my timer!