Staying fit and focused while working from home
by Caidryn Roder
I love that feeling of flow that you get when you’re completely focused on a task. The feeling of being in the zone where nothing else matters and nothing can distract you. But it is hard, right? There are so many distractions — email, phone, Slack notifications, social media, that video of a funny cat that just popped up in your feed. If you give into these distractions, suddenly a task that should have taken 20 minutes will take you an hour.
The Pomodoro Technique helps you focus by splitting your work into 25 minute increments and forcing you to take regular breaks. While you work, you focus completely on the task at hand.
No phones. No email. No funny cat videos.
Then in your break you can do whatever the heck you like. It’s simple and it works. Well… sort of.
Last year when lockdown hit, I found that the technique was becoming less effective. I was spending so much time sitting in front of my computer that it was getting hard to focus. My ‘breaks’ tended to be switching from one computer based task to another and I wasn’t getting anywhere near as much exercise as I was pre-lockdown. I was becoming less productive and I was getting a sore back. Like every way of working, it required a personalisation to fit my style, so I combined the Pomodoro Technique with daily exercise goals to mix things up.
How it works
Set some goals
There are two parts to this. First off, set some work-related goals for the time period. I find that weekly works well for me. Aim for 2–3 things at most. This isn’t a complete list of tasks for the week (that comes later), rather it’s the big things that you want to achieve by the end of the week. Doing this at the start of each week anchors your daily tasks and gives you something to aim for. It’s ok to change them as your priorities change, but if you don’t do this you might lose sight of the bigger picture. For example, my goals for this week are:
- Blog post finished
- Prepared for the planning session I’m running next week
- Coaching plan set up
Then set some exercise goals. For me, these tend to take the form of “do x of an exercise per day” for some number of days. For example, my current goal is 100 pushups and 100 squats per day. The key is to set goals that you can break down and fit into 5-minute breaks. It works well for things that you can break into small sets (e.g. 20 pushups), but not so well for bigger things, like say a 20km run.
Plan your day
At the start of each day, note down the work-related tasks that you want to do that day. I use Trello for this, but pen and paper or any other task management system would work too. The important things are to tie them back to your goals and to prioritise them. I don’t bother estimating how long the tasks will take, but feel free to do so if it helps.
When other tasks come up during the day, as they inevitably will, just note them down and decide where they sit in your priorities. Do they help move you towards your goals? Do you need to change your goals? Try to avoid letting these new tasks interrupt your existing work (that’s the whole point, afterall).
Do it
Now that you have your goals and your task list, it’s time to get down to work. Set a timer for 25 minutes and start work on your first task. When the timer goes off, take 5 minutes to do something that moves you towards your exercise goals. Make sure that you record your exercise progress too (for some reason I prefer writing my exercise progress on paper). Once 5 minutes is up, start another 25 minute work interval. After every fourth 25 minute interval take a longer break, somewhere in the realm of 15–30 mins works well.
Tips
Choose timings that work for you
The timings above are pretty much what’s recommended in the standard Pomodoro Technique, but that doesn’t mean that you need to follow them slavishly. Just do what works for you. I vary them a bit myself. For example, if I’m really feeling the flow when the timer goes off, I’ll just keep going until there’s a logical place to take a break. Try not to go for too long though as you’ll start to lose focus and hence effectiveness.
Choose the right sort of tasks
I use the Pomodoro Technique for larger reading, writing and analysis tasks. Anything where I need to focus for long periods of time on the one thing. I find it less useful for small tasks as the inherent variety calls for a different mode of working.
Mix up your breaks
You don’t have to exercise every break. Sometimes you’ll need to check your email, respond to that phone call or watch that funny cat video. That’s ok. Just make sure that you take the time to have a quick movement break too. Stand up and stretch. Walk to the kitchen and get a coffee. Whatever. Just as long as you move and stop staring at a screen for a minute or two.
Update your goals
Don’t be afraid to update your goals. This goes for both work and exercise goals. The goals are there to guide your activity and keep you on track. If they’re not doing that, change them. You have to find the right level of goal to motivate yourself. Oftentimes this is a trial and error process and that’s totally fine.
Originally published at https://nomoss.co by Caidryn Roder on August 19, 2021.
