“If one door closes and another door opens your house is probably haunted.”
After just shy of 9 years at Microsoft my role was eliminated as part of the company’s May layoffs. It’s not clear to me what the company strategy is here, a lot of great people with decades of experience who were working on key projects (like Copilot) were let go in these layoffs. I’m sure they make sense to somebody, just not to me. I’m not mad, just disappointed.
That said, I’m fortunate that I have the opportunity to move back into legal tech. I’m excited to be joining a firm I’ve admired for years - more details will be announced in the coming weeks and I’ll be starting with them in late July.
And now to the topic I really wanted to talk about…
I'm a fan of the Pomodoro technique for productivity. As somebody with ADHD it's often difficult for me to focus for long periods but I find that I can often force myself to focus on one task for short defined periods. If I *KNOW* there's a timer running and I just need to do this one thing for that period, that can really help.
The standard period for Pomodoro is a 25-minute work period followed by a 5 minute break. But there's nothing sacrosanct about those durations. If 20 minutes works better for you, fine. 15? Sure. Heck, even 10 can work, though at some point if your breaks are as long as your work periods….
Conversely 25 minutes might be too short for you; it's ok to go longer. You should experiment a bit to see where your sweet spots are. Mine tends to be 15 minutes followed by a 3 minute break.
In trying to figure out what works best for me I discovered that the best duration can vary by day…or even time of day! On certain days, especially after I’ve slept well, I can be productive with longer periods. On other days, I need to cut them shorter. I’ve also discovered that I can handle longer periods in the morning, and by mid-late afternoon I need to shorten them down.
I haven’t totally solved this one, largely I just start with my default duration (15 minutes) and then play it by feel as to whether I think I should dial that up or down.
No. In fact I sometimes will work on something for 15 minutes. Take a 3 minute break, then drive right back into the same task for another 15 minutes.
Other times I may have two tasks I want to work on and I’ll alternate, 15 on one, 3 minute break, 15 on the other, 3 minute break, then 15 more on the first task. Rinse. Repeat.
It may seem odd to switch back and forth but I find that sometimes having the variety fulfills my ADHD brain’s desire to multi-task, without the constant context switching.
The one catch is that I need to make sure I don’t end up with two tasks that are half done. It’s usually better to finish one thing than to half-do two things.
This is another one where “it depends” is the answer. Usually I see recommendations to do four Pomodoro periods (including breaks) then take a longer break or even move on to something else entirely. But a lot depends on your day - four traditional Pomodoro periods is 2 hours and you might not always have 2 uninterrupted hours to do this.
It’s totally fine to do two periods. Or six. Again, it depends on what works best for you.
The key is that having that finite, and relatively short, period to focus on one thing. How long, or how often, is less important. Knowing that you only have to focus for 6 more minutes makes it easier for most people to do.
It defeats the whole purpose if you spend your 25-minute Pomodoro period multitasking and bouncing from thing to thing. Set a timer and focus completely on the task you’ve chosen for that period. If you just can’t manage it, try shorter periods and work up to 25 minutes.
This is another area where different people will find different things beneficial. The idea of the break is to let your mind clear, and to provide an opportunity to cleanly switch tasks if you need to.
Here’s what I think is important to do during the breaks though:
Move. Get up, go for a walk (even if it’s just to refill your water), stretch. Just changing position and moving a little bit, it’s just a minute or two, can help with your energy and help you feel better.
Breathe. Sometimes when we’re heads down on a task we can forget to breathe deeply. At some point during my breaks I like to take a moment to just take a couple of good deep breaths.
Change your focus - literally. Getting your eyes off your screen, and just changing your focus (look out the window, look across the room, whatever) can help you reset and reduce eye strain.
Do something you enjoy. The break is a bit of a reward too, so have a snack, surf the web, watch a short entertaining video, play with your dog. Whatever you look forward to.
…but use the timer for the breaks too. The 25-minute period timer is important, but so is the 5-minute break timer. Resist the temptation to let your 5-minute break turn into a 45-minute break.
If you’re looking for some tricks to boost your productivity, give Pomodoro a try.
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