Difficulty: Piece of cake

What you need: A computer and Focus Booster

Why you need it:

“If you have a large and varied to-do list, using the Pomodoro Technique can help you crank through projects faster by forcing you to adhere to strict timing. Watching the timer wind down can spur you to wrap up your current task more quickly, and spreading a task over two or three pomodoros can keep you from getting frustrated.” – Lifehack.org

What to do:

The app is located at http://www.focusboosterapp.com/ and is a very lightweight download. It uses Adobe Air, a framework to run web-like applications on your desktop. Once it’s installed, the main interface of Focus Booster should appear, which looks like this:

You may also see this smaller view, which you can toggle with the third menu button:

Before you start, I’ll give a brief primer on the Pomodoro technique. It’s a method of managing time that helps focus on the task at hand while taking frequent breaks. You start by deciding the tasks you want to finish today, and making sure no task will take longer than 25 minutes to complete. If a task won’t fit in the time window, split it in to parts until it does. Finally, make sure the list is sorted with the most urgent tasks at the top.

Once you’re at your workstation and your task list is curated, click the green button in Focus Booster to start the timer. Work for 25 minutes without a break. When the time is up, check off the completed task and take a 5 minute break (it starts automatically). During the break, you can get coffee, stretch muscles, or walk around to get your blood moving. The timer will head in to the next work session when the break is up, and after four consecutive sessions, you take a longer break of at least 15 minutes.

I believe the focus on smaller tasks leads to more satisfaction (I can finish something in 25 minutes) and better focus (if the timer is winding up, I tend to buckle down). You’ll find you do more planning, especially at the start of the day, but that small amount of effort pays dividends as you work through each session. Best of luck checking as many boxes as you can!

If you want to tweak any of the options for the application, click the ‘i’ button (I disable the ticking sound, for example):

Title photo by Bethan Phillips via Flickr.