Text/Ma Ye Ma Ye
This article is a reading note of pomodoro technique Illustration.
Francisco Cirillo founded pomodoro technique in 1992, but if we start from the beginning, we will go back to the late 1980s, the first few years of his college life.
Cirillo once suffered from inefficiency, unable to finish his homework and study.
"Can I study for a while? Really learn 10 minutes? "
"I have to find a timing coach, but who will pinch my watch?"
Later, he found it. This is a kitchen timer, shaped like a tomato (pomodoro in Italian, Pomodoro technology in Pomodoro technology). In this way, Cirillo met his tomato clock.
Q: How is the working method of tomato clock expansion realized?
Simply put, make a list of things to do that day, set the alarm clock for 25 minutes, and then start from the first thing. The first tomato clock is over, rest for 5 minutes, continue the second tomato clock, and so on.
Finish the first thing ahead of time or use up the tomato bell and start the second thing.
In addition, there are daily review, daily commitment, control interruption and estimated time.
Q: Why is pomodoro technique refreshing?
Because it breaks our inherent concept of time-work.
At work, we often default that the time is continuous, such as "I want to catch the bus in 10 minutes" and "the deadline is this Wednesday", where the time refers to the distance between two points-the starting point and the end point. We have made two points clear, but we don't know what will happen in the middle.
From the perspective of duration, thinking, calculating and dividing the future is like a blind man touching an elephant, at least when facing a new task in a new way.
For most people, it is this unpredictability that causes anxiety. And anxiety will undoubtedly lead to a decline in productivity and may even screw things up.
Pomodoro technique advocated the concept of time alternation, such as chicken 1 laying egg 2, egg 2 laying hen 3, chicken 3 laying egg 4, and so on. These events do not overlap with each other. We may not know the specific time points, but we know the order in which they happened.
If we can think from the perspective of time alternation and regard work as a series of events, the work efficiency will be improved. This is the basic principle of pomodoro technique.
What tools does pomodoro technique need?
Pomodoro technique only needs a pen, a timer and three pieces of paper.
The purpose of three pieces of paper is as follows:
1) "Activity List" form: list the recent activities to be carried out, fill them in at will, and be concise and unordered.
A good idea is that the first word represents the theme type of the activity (although there are many things, it can always be classified into several themes), and the second word behind it clearly expresses the purpose you want to achieve.
The same "activity list" can be used for many days, adding new activities and crossing out completed activities.
2) "Today's to-do list": Fill in today's date and your name, give yourself a sense of ceremony, and pick out the activities you plan to carry out today from the "list of activities".
In my mind, I changed "I have to finish" to "where to start" and "this project is very big and important" to "I can take a small step"
At this moment, my decision to do one thing is equivalent to implicitly deciding not to do hundreds of other things on my to-do list. Dance with this task for a short time, and then re-evaluate whether it is still the most important.
This watch needs a new one every morning.
Distinguish between the "activity list" (traditional work list) and the "things to do today" (extracted commitments) table.
3) "Record" table: record the sampling process indicators so as to improve the process. The same "records" table can be used for many days to compare daily tracking records.
Q: How exactly did pomodoro technique achieve it?
A tomato worker's day has the following five stages:
1) Plan: At the beginning of the day, extract the most important activities from the to-do list (called "activity list") and fill them in the "Today's to-do list". This is your self-promise that day.
2) Tracking: After confirming the activities of the day, turn on the tomato clock for 25 minutes, starting from the first item of the day's activities. In each tomato clock, you should collect some process indicators, such as calculating the number of interrupts encountered.
3) Record: At the end of the day, file the data collected on that day and write it into the "Record" form. If you record the number of interruptions, write down the number of interruptions.
4) Processing: extracting useful information from the recorded original data.
For example, you can calculate the tomato hours spent on each activity. If the number is large, you should try to divide the activity into smaller and more manageable parts.
Alternatively, you can calculate the average time that an activity stays in the activity list, that is, the time from recording the activity to processing the activity.
5) Visualization: Finally, you should organize the information in some way and find out the ideas to improve the process.
In order to avoid making the same mistake the next day, pomodoro technique should do three things before the end of the day: recording, processing and visualization. These daily reviews are the key to improving personal processes.
Another advantage of doing this is that at first you apply pomodoro technique according to the book, and then you can make adjustments after you know your work habits, such as a 30-minute or 45-minute work cycle, so as to form your own set of methods.
Q: What are the rules for implementing pomodoro technique?
There are two rules:
1) Once the tomato bell starts, you must ring it.
This is because the tomato clock is inseparable from atoms.
Tomato clock is the smallest monetary unit in this process, and decimals, such as 1/2 or 2.2 tomato clock, are not allowed. If the task is put down, such as flushing the toilet or having an impromptu meeting, whether it is temporary or long-term, the current tomato clock must be invalidated. It can't count, and it shouldn't draw an X. You have to open a new 25-minute tomato clock instead.
2) Make sure that you are always doing the most important thing, and nothing else.
Before I start work, I must turn on the tomato bell, which will ring later to remind me to stop and reconsider the activity I just focused on. Is it still the most important thing? Make sure that you are always doing the most important thing and nothing else.
Q: Why does pomodoro technique emphasize doing only one thing at a time?
In his classic book Willpower, Roy baumeister, a behavioral psychologist, used a large number of experimental cases to demonstrate that when setting too many goals, people's decision-making power and willpower will be greatly consumed, and the result will often become out of reach.
When researchers ask people to list their goals, 90% of them will easily list six goals.
During the continuous monitoring of these subjects who were carrying out six goals at the same time, it was found that:
1. They continue to fall into irritability and anxiety, and their pain index rises;
2. At the same time, they do less, thinking time takes up action time, they are busy with troubles, but they stop;
In addition, the physical health of these people has obviously deteriorated, and various negative stress reactions have emerged one after another.
You see, our psychological mechanism determines that it is more effective to concentrate on one thing. Multi-task needs training, and only a few people with super intelligence and willpower can be competent for non-human task design.
Q: I also want to work hard for half an hour and 40 minutes, but I am always interrupted. What should I do?
Interrupts are divided into internal interrupts and external interrupts.
Internal interruption, conscious procrastination. Procrastination is like going to the hospital without registering, wasting time and waiting for the situation to get worse!
Now, let's take a look at the strategy that should be adopted when there is an internal interrupt:
1) Take it first,
2) Then record it (the lower part of today's to-do list has been separated, and there is a title called "Unplanned Emergency" under the planned commitment activity).
3) Then continue your work immediately to avoid being really interrupted.
It's no use turning a blind eye to internal interference and thinking about deceiving yourself. Record tracking data for self-improvement and process improvement.
External interrupts are interactive. E-mail software clinks to remind you that there is new mail and someone is waiting for your reply.
Every time you encounter external interference, add the activity title required by the interference to the "Today's To-Do List". Write it down, don't let it occupy your mind, and make sure you will consider it in your future plans.
The strategy for handling external interrupts includes the following four steps:
1) told: "I'm busy with something at hand."
2) Negotiation: "Can I help you do it on Friday?"
3) Planning: Write down the name of the event and plan the future tomato clock for it later.
4) Reply: Call back or reply as promised, otherwise others will not be able to trust you next time.
Q: How to use different symbols to mark work interruptions?
Suppose I chose three activities this morning: "Prepare invoices", "Receive prizes" and "Fill in tax forms".
As a citizen of an old brand, I will definitely give priority to tax forms. After a tomato clock, I drew an X; Two tomato clocks later, I finished the tax return. It's time to prepare the invoice.
I drew an X in the second box, because I finished another tomato clock, and I crossed out the activity of "filling out the tax bill" in the "Today's To-Do List" because I had finished it.
What are ①, ② and ③ in the picture?
① There was an internal interruption while preparing the invoice. I somehow remembered to call Xiao Ming. I wrote it in the "activity list" form and planned to do it another day. Then, I added an apostrophe to the right of the title "Prepare Invoice". Summarize these tracking data at the end of the day.
When filling out the tax bill, Xiaohong called me. I told her I was busy and asked if I could call her back later. This is an external interruption, so I drew a minus sign to the right of "Fill in the tax form". Similarly, these tracking data should be summarized at the end of today.
After drawing the minus sign, I also wrote "Telephone Little Red" in the column of "Unplanned Emergency".
Q. What if the tomato clock is used up and the work is not finished?
If the small squares are filled before the activity is completed, it is estimated that the activity will need several tomato clocks, but these tomato clocks have been used up and the activity has not been completed. What's next?
At this time, it is necessary to make a second estimate.
Guess how many tomato clocks are needed to complete this activity. Then, next to the previous small box, draw the corresponding number of laps according to the second estimate. Now, when each tomato bell rings, you can continue to draw an X in the circle.
There are two possible reasons for the inconsistency between the estimated tomato clock and the actual tomato clock:
1) The method or ability to make predictions needs to be improved;
2) After the work started, new situations and problems appeared, which changed the environment.
Q: What have you learned from the implementation of pomodoro technique?
Cognition 1: "I didn't expect one thing to take so long." It is estimated that if an activity needs more than seven tomato clocks, it should be split.
Cognition 2: "I didn't expect one thing to become more and more complicated." During the activity, sudden minor tasks can be filled in the column of "unplanned emergency", and then make persistent efforts to complete the main activity.
Cognition 3: "The mind is occupied by various ideas". On the one hand, redundant ideas should be controlled and not interfered with the main tasks, on the other hand, they should be refined in time, which are the sources of work innovation.
Cognition 4: "Take the estimate as a promise". The time required for an exploration or development activity cannot be predicted in advance and can only be estimated as much as possible. Always taking the estimated value as a promise will cause unnecessary anxiety to yourself or your colleagues.
To avoid this dilemma, pomodoro technique only calculated the tomato clock. Even if the deadline is imminent, you can spend 25 minutes focusing on what you should do.
But we should also communicate at any time so that relevant personnel can see the progress of things.
Cognition 5: "Process management, just talk". The tracking stage is to collect the real data of the whole day's workflow for daily review to improve the next day's workflow.
It is up to you to decide which data to track, which varies according to the specific working status, but you can start by calculating the number of interruptions and the number of tomatoes completed.
Cognition 6: "Perfectionism is an obstacle". "Wait a minute, there is a more perfect plan" is actually another form of procrastination.
Pomodoro technique didn't give "delay" any chance. You can only go ahead and start a tomato clock without thinking about how to be "perfect". Remember, completion is more important than perfection.
Cognition 7: "Choose some activities in the morning, only to find that most of the activities completed today are not chosen in the morning." Often there is no sense of mission in the planning stage. If you don't have a sense of commitment, you will feel that you have only worked hard and have no credit at the end of the day.
More importantly, there is no difference between "activity list" and "today's to-do list". Commitment is the core of pomodoro technique. "What to do today" is a daily promise! The selected activities should be feasible.
Tips. Games generally decide "what to do today"
If you are not sure which activities should be filled in the "Today's To Do" form, why not hold a "priority elimination tournament"?
First, write down the list of contestants-that is, the titles of all activities, as well as the small notes of each activity.
Then, no matter how important, put all the notes in a line. Compare the first item with the second item. If I can only do one thing today, which one should I do? After the decision is made, the loser is placed on the left and the winner is in his hand.
Next, take the next note from the original column and continue to compare it with the winner of the last competition. And so on, game after game.
The winner is always in hand, and the loser is left. When the original column is empty, there will be winners for the whole season. The highest priority activities are ongoing activities.
However, there is more than one activity that can be done in a day. So start the new season from the loser column on the left. Fill in the selected winners in today's to-do list as a realistic promise.
Tips. Tomato cheats schedule
If the same activity always appears in today's to-do list, but it cannot be completed, then another form of activity list table-schedule is needed.
Take chestnuts for example. The author takes a piece of A4 paper with a grid of 5x5mm, and the month and name are written in the upper left corner. Then write the date of this month from right to left along the short edge of the paper, 3 1, 30, 29, ... until 1, and write a number in each cell.
So there is a blank about 5 cm on the left. Write down all the known activities here, one line for each activity. Then use this "schedule" instead of "activity list"
The idea of "schedule" or "activity list" is only realized in different ways.
What about the record form? The "Record" form records data that the author wants to track at will, such as making several phone calls.
Every morning, when the author selects an activity and fills it in the Today's To-Do list, he will also draw a circle in the corresponding box of the Schedule, which is located in the column of today's date and the row of the selected activity.
At the end of the day, if an activity is completed, draw a star in its circle.
After a period of time, if you see a lot of empty circles, it means that you always overestimate the promises you can deliver. If an activity has many empty circles, you may need to decompose it.
Tips. The tomato clock is set to 0&; 7 skills
If an activity is estimated to be more than 7 tomato clocks, it is too complicated and needs to be split. Each decomposed activity occupies a separate row in the Activity List table and has its own estimated value. The bigger the activity, the less accurate the forecast.
If an activity is estimated to be less than 1 tomato clock, you can mark 0 beside it. It doesn't mean that it takes 0 tomato clocks to complete, but that the time is less than 1 tomato clock. Such activities still occupy a row in the Activity List table.
In the future, when you choose an activity to fill in the "Today's To-Do List", you can combine several activities less than 1 Tomato Bell and write them on the same line as one activity.
Write it at the back
Illustration of pomodoro technique is a practical book, and the reading time is 10 days. After reading the book, it is still very rewarding. The method is simple and easy, which is very suitable for office workers.
The following is an excerpt from the article to share with you?
* One foot can't jump twice at the same time. In other words, do only one thing at a time.
* Laziness is the branch, procrastination is the branch, anxiety is the trunk, and reasons are the root. How tall a lazy tree is depends on the number of roots. The more roots there are, the more complicated they are, and the harder it is to cut down lazy trees.
* The right decision is a balance between consciousness and intuition. In order to make the right decision, you need to simplify the problem so that it only contains important facts and areas that you are capable of analyzing.
* Change is an eternal theme in the business world. If you don't want to worry, you should always provide feedback and often receive feedback.
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