This Simple Hack Will Double Your Productivity In One Week!

So you’re about to work on a new task..

You fire up Keynote, and you start prototyping a couple of new features for your app.

A couple of minutes later, your phone vibrates.

You have a new text message, so you stop working to check it.

You read the message - nothing important, but since you've already read it, you answer it.

You're about to turn off your phone, when you notice a red dot on your email app, so you open it in case there is an important email that you don't want o miss. 

You see a couple of new emails: one is inviting you to an upcoming feature review meeting, so you answer it quickly. 

The second is a notification about your friend Jake mentioning you in a Facebook status update, so you ignore it for the time being.

You turn off your phone, and you return to your task.

A minute later, you're still wondering what Jake said in his status update. It's nagging you badly, so you switch to your browser, and fire up Facebook. your timeline automatically plays a video from LAD Bible about a guy creating a replica of the Jumanji game in his garage. You're lost in his process for the following 4 minutes, then you realize that you've been distracted from your original task.

Feeling frustrated, you close the tab and switch back to Keynote.

At that moment, your coworker pops into your office for a quick chat about your weekend's trip to Lake Tahoe, so you chat for a bit because you don't want to seem rude.

5 minutes later, your coworker leaves, and you get back to your task.

Wait! What were you were working on again?

If this sounds familiar, that's because it happens to most of us on a daily basis. 

By the time the day is over, little has been accomplished, and now we have to find time to exercise and work on our side projects, between our commute and time with family!

Wouldn't be awesome to overcome those interruptions, distractions, time wasting activities, and to get through our daily tasks with effortless focus, and be done by the time you leave the office?

For the past couple of months, I've been using a simple hack that doubled my productivity within the first week, and has consistently increased my output since then.

The technique is simple: you set a timer for 25 minutes, you block all sources of distractions and interruptions during that period of time, you work on ONE task, and once the timer is done, you take a 5 minute break where you can check email, phone, social media, or whatever you like, then you go back and do another 25 minute focus block.

This productivity technique was actually developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, who called it the Pomodoro technique (named after the tomato kitchen timer that he used for it).

Here's how I successfully implemented this technique:

- I use a combination of BeFocused and SelfControl (both free). The former lets me to specify a task and set a 25-minute timer to work on it, the latter helps me block news and social media websites. This is important for the first 30 days, as you're developing the focus habit.

- I put my phone on VIP (Do Not Disturb) mode, so that no notifications interrupt my flow.

- I close my office door, and I place a Do Not Disturb sign on the handle.

- I fire up both BeFocused and SelfControl, and work for 25 minutes straight.

- The first 25-minute block is used to define and prioritize the tasks I want to work on during that day. Each task should take 20-30 minutes to finish. If longer, break it into sub-tasks.

- If I get distracted, I stop and restart the timer, since the goal is to get to 25 minutes of uninterrupted focus block.

- When the timer is done, I stand up, do a few stretches, breathe, shake up my body, and check email, social media, etc...

- I track my weekly progress on BeFocused, and I actually get competitive with myself trying to beat my previous week's total time and number of focus intervals.

If the timer is over and you don't feel like stopping, fire up the timer again and keep working! This means that you've overcome the temptation of distraction, and that you're gaining momentum with your work.

The goal of this technique is to train your brain to incrementally work in extended blocks of focused time, starting with short enough blocks of 25 minutes, while still allowing your normal daily distractions in between your tasks (but not alongside them).

The great thing about it is that, once you're getting results with those short periods, you start working yourself up to longer periods of uninterrupted focus. I've gradually gone from 25 minutes to 50 minutes time blocks, followed by a 10 minute break.

During that break, I started doing the 7-minute workout, and purchased a set of TRX GO to do some strength training. It's surprising how much you can improve your body with a few short workouts throughout the day.

Try this technique for a week, and you'll likely experience a surge a productivity that will get you hooked to it forever.

Your time is the most important asset in life. Guard it with all your power, and don't let your attention become someone else's business model.