Productivity 101: Six Popular Methods for Getting More Done

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Advances in technology should, in theory, make your job easier, but sometimes it feels impossible to get it all done. These productivity techniques can help.

If you’re struggling with being productive, you’re not alone. A quick Google search of “how to be productive,” yields 190 million search results. You and just about everybody else out there are looking for ways to get more done.

Thankfully, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are a lot of tried and true productivity boosting systems out there. While all these systems can be useful, finding the one fits in with your lifestyle can be a little overwhelming. This quick guide to six popular productivity techniques should make it a bit easier for you to find ways to ramp up your workflow.

Pomodoro

History: This time management technique was created in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo. The term Pomodoro is Italian for tomato (Cirillo named it after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used.)

What is it: The premise behind this technique is that you are training your brain to focus intently for short bursts of time, with the idea being that you can accomplish more in short, focuses bursts of intensity, over longer, distracted chunks of time. The Pomodoro technique is made up of six different steps:

Choose a task
Set your timer for 25 minutes
Work on the task for until your timer goes off
Mark your progress on a sheet of paper
Take a quick break (about 5 minutes)
After every four 25-minute segments take a longer break (20 to 30 minutes)

Effort: Easy. All you need is a timer and a willingness to stay focused for less than half an hour at a time.

Resources: You can read the book The Pomodoro Technique, by Francesco Cirillo, or head over to the website for more detailed information.

Drawbacks: Some people don’t like that it’s such a rigid method for focusing, and it’s focused strictly on time-on-task work without any system for organizing or managing your tasks.

Time Blocking

History: This history is a bit murky, but one of the earliest records of time blocking is in Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. Many well-known people like Elon Musk and Jeff Weiner (LinkedIn CEO) say that time blocking helps them get more done and have time for family and personal events.