There is this cool technique I learned about called the Pomodoro Technique (See article on Wikipedia)
The idea is to work in specified time increments. Often I problem I have had is that I get lost in my work. I’m working on some problem and all other things go into a hold pattern in my mind as I focus only on that issue. I could do this for many hours at a time. That’s not necessarily a problem, but when I was expecting that I would be able to accomplish something in 30 minutes, but it actually takes 6 hours, that creates a backup of other things I wanted to work on.
The pomodoro technique was named for the tomato shaped kitchen timer the originator of the technique would use to limit his work to a given time slot. The man is Italian, and the Italian word for tomato is pomodoro.
So how does this help me with Access projects?
First of all, it forces me to re-assess everything at certain points. I choose 27 minutes for my time frame and require a 3 minute break before beginning another task. The time you choose should be consistent for you, but doesn’t need to be the same time frame I chose. It really depends on your preference. Personally I would recommend having it shorter than 30 minutes.
How to use the technique:
- Interruptions: try to immediately push any interruptions off until the end of your tomato. Tell them you will get back to them in 15 minutes or whatever time is left on your timer. I have a pad of paper or my “reMarkable” device (which I love) and write down who I need to contact when my tomato is complete, then get back to my tomato.
- Planning your day: as you use this technique, you can start to get an idea of how many of your own tomatoes you can do in a day. I typically can get about 12 tomatoes in a day, so it can help me schedule my tasks more realistically.
- Finishing a tomato: sometimes you may choose to extend the tomato slightly, just to get to a point where you can stop. However, always take a short break to stand up and / or get a cup of water or coffee or whatever to get your eyes away from the computer and maybe look outside at some sunshine. This actually improves productivity. You may have noticed that when you are working on one particular thing for hours and hours there are times you start getting less and less productive the further on you go without taking a break.
- What happens if you finish early? Great! You can pick a related task to start working on until the timer goes off, or you can take your break early before you start on your next task.
I have an iPhone and have programmed a timer for a tomato. I can swipe right from my home screen and choose the shortcut I entitled: “Work a Tomato”. This starts a 27 minute timer and says: “Commencing Tomato!”. Always puts a smile on my face.
Although I always have my phone with me and this is an option anywhere I am, I have an actual tomato kitchen timer with a spring and a bell inside at my home office and my regular office. I actually prefer this method, even though I can’t quite tell what time I’m really setting it for. The marks on the timer are suggestive rather than prescriptive. The reason I like this method better is because I have this ticking noise the timer makes in the background. It tends to keep me more focused and reminds me to try to delay interruptions to the end of the timer.
Here is the tomato timer I use on Amazon, but feel free to find any timer, tomato shaped or not: