Tag: “Focus”

Your performance, and largely your productivity, is determined by your ability to give full attention to one thing at any moment. Everybody can do it and, indeed, we all do it unconsciously when we are totally committed to what we are doing or when our brain accepts, without any doubt, that the thing at hand is a top priority issue.

You have managed to set up and assimilate a personal productivity system that works for you. Congratulations, that is not easy. Despite it, you are aware that, in many cases, you are not performing well. You are realizing that, in order to perform certain tasks, you need much more time than you had planned.

Productivity is not about trying to get more done every day and filling every second of your time with something so you feel busy. Being busy may make you look like a good employee, but that is a false type of productivity.

I know the Pomodoro technique long time ago, but I have always been rather reluctant to use it. After seeing how widespread is this technique in the world of programming and how it is recommended by some well-known developers, I think I was just having too many prejudices. In any case, trying it for a few days would not hurt me. If it did not work for me, I would not use it anymore.

One of the most frustrating things when you have managed to establish a personal productivity system that works for you, is to realize that the others do not give a damn about your productivity. You just need to decide to tackle a task that requires total concentration and an idle co-worker will come and start telling you whatever story. You just need to decide to sort out your personal finances and your partner will tell you she feels like going out for a walk and, of course, what you are doing can wait.