I’m not sure why all these methods are named after foods – productivity must make you hungry – but today I’m going to talk about the different time management techniques and the differences between them.

Discussed In This Episode:

• The Pomodoro Method [03:13]
• The Salami Method [07:44]
• The Swiss Cheese Method [11:17]
• Listener Q + A [16:23]

Mentioned in this episode:

• Fast Company: Worker, Interrupted: The Cost of Task Switching
• Francesco Cirillo: The Pomodoro Method

Other Helpful links:

• Instagram (@mirandamerten)

If a to-do list was as simple as picking your tasks, writing them down or putting them in your app, and crossing them off when you complete it, then we would all be productivity rock stars. But it’s not so easy is it? Somehow we manage to still have a long list at the end of the day, or maybe we just put the wrong things on the list which made us feel unproductive (but that’s a whole other tangent). There are a few reasons why this happens:

• Lack of focus
• Too many tasks which leads to confusion + not knowing where to begin
• Tasks that are too broad and we don’t know how to tackles them at all

Really when it all comes down to it, it’s all just the same root problem: excuses and procrastination. If you find you have one of those 3 points more often than not, let’s look at the 3 methods that might help your productivity.

Pomodoro method: This is for you if you tend to lack focus. You’ve got your list laid out, you know exactly what to focus on, but your problem is distractions. Initially introduced by Francesco Cirillo.

The idea is that you remove extra noise and distractions (mute notifications, wear headphones, block your calendar) and set up a timer for 25 minutes to do a particular task then take a 5 minute break. That is one pomodoro session. Typically you would do 4 sessions (equal to 2 hours) then take a longer break, 20-30 minutes – continue until your day or block of work time is done.

Twenty-five minutes is enough to stay focused and productive without burning out. You also don’t need to wait for inspiration – the urge of doing it within the time assigned activates your brain. It basically trains your brain to understand that you will be focused on work for this short period of time, and you have a known break to look forward to.

You have to be really disciplined if you want this to work though. If you get interrupted or distracted, you’ll have to end your current session and start a new pomodoro.  according to one study (I’ll link it in the show notes), it takes around 23 minutes to refocus after an interruption – almost a whole Pomodoro! So if you let a distraction take your focus away from your current task, it is an unproductive session. So try not to break your pomodoros!

Since the method was invented, there have been variations made and you can adjust the work/break sequence to what fits you (like 40/10), but make sure you stick to it and make sure it actually works for you.

The next two methods are very similar.

To overcome the fear of complex tasks, use the salami technique. Imagine a huge salami roll. We wouldn’t normally just bite right into that giant thing, would we? Nope, we first slice it into thin, manageable slices, thus making it easier to handle. So the same goes for a complicated task. Instead of putting your big task on the list, break it down. For example, instead of saying create and schedule social media posts, you might have tasks like this:

• Pick the focus topic for social this week
• Curate some images that will work
• Create the graphics for each social network
• Create the captions to go along with each post
• Schedule the graphic with the caption in my social scheduler

At first glance, “schedule social media” might seem too big to tackle, then you put it off … and never do it. But, taking just one of those at a time (in order) makes it seem less daunting. One might take you 5 minutes, the next might take you 20, but after an hour and a half, you’ll be done!

The last method is the Swiss cheese method. Similar to the salami method, you take a huge task and break it down, but the difference is that the smaller tasks don’t have to be done in order. With the social media example, I wouldn’t write the captions before I knew what the image or the subject was going to be. This method is more like Swiss cheese, you pick something, work on it and then pick another.

Let’s say you want to pay your taxes. If you are doing this yourself, it can be overwhelming to sit down and do it all at once. First break down the tasks that you think you need to do:

• Determine what days you want to work on it
• Collect all W2s and 1099s
• Collect all expenses and receipts
• Sign up for TurboTax
• Fill out section 1: information about you and your household
• etc.

These things don’t have to be done in order (although you need to sign up for TurboTax before you add your info), so you can pick small tasks or things that seem manageable at the moment, and knock it off the list. Doing this works because accomplishing short, quick tasks gives you “quick wins” hence giving you a boost of dopamine, which makes you happy and motivates you to do something else.

Lastly, you can combine the salami or the Swiss cheese methods with a pomodoro sprint and really choose a time focus on your list.

You may already be doing these methods, but didn’t realize they had stupid food names. If you have a favorite procrastination tamer, reach out and let me know what it is, I’d love to hear more.

Listener Q + A – Have a question you’d like me to answer on a future episode? Send me a message!

Q+A time! If you have a question about productivity, workflows or just want a recommendation, click the button below to leave a voice recorded message for me. You don’t have to download anything or put in any info, just hit record and send. I’ll answer your question in an upcoming episode!

 

Prefer reading? Download the Transcript

(be aware, these are automated, and not perfect)

[fusebox_transcript]