The Pomodoro Technique is all about working in short, massively productive, intensely focused bursts, and then giving yourself a brief break. There are many days when I waste hours crossing off the 4th, 5th, or 6th most important tasks on my to do list and never get around to doing the most important thing. I donвЂ™t know about you, but this is a big deal for me. If you do the most important thing first each day, then youвЂ™ll always get something important done. Productivity expert James Clear puts it this way: You never have a day where you waste time on meaningless tasks. Email, phone calls, and meetings come later, after youвЂ™ve completed your essential tasks.Д«y focusing obsessively on your most important tasks, every day is productive. You can use this in conjunction with the time blocking method, saving your initial hours for the most important tasks. You then make progress on essential items before you get bombarded by distractions. Once you determine your 1-3 most important tasks, they are scheduled first in your day. This is the core topic of Gary Keller and Jay Papasan's book The ONE Thing: 'WhatвЂ™s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?' If you can complete the 1-3 essential tasks, everything else becomes secondary or even unnecessary. The notifications blowing up your phone and the emails filling your inbox can all wait. Yes, there are a thousand voices clamoring for our attention, but most of those voices arenвЂ™t crucial. The reality is, most days there are only a few essential things that must be done. ItвЂ™s not that you never do more than three tasks in a day, but that you donвЂ™t do anything else until youвЂ™ve completed the three essential tasks. Rather than writing out a massive to do list and trying to get it all done, determine the 1-3 tasks that are absolutely essential and then relentlessly focus on those tasks during the day. The MIT method is all about focusing on what's essential. 'No matter how you look at it,' Art of Less Doing writer Ari Meisel says, 'tasks involve timing.' (His technique is to use to get reminders via email of tasks at just the right time.) Planning out your day in advance with your calendar can help you focus on those tasks that matter most. A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure. My answer is simple: it generates a massive amount of productivity. Sometimes people ask why I bother with such a detailed level of planning. Productivity guru Cal Newport swears by the time blocking method, saying: Time blocking provides you with a list of tasks and a specific time frame to complete each task.Д«y forcing yourself to work within a rigid structure and to accomplish tasks in a given time, you are forced to bring laser focus to every activity. Standard to do lists present you with a list of tasks to complete in your own time.

This method has the advantage of helping you know exactly how youвЂ™re going to use your time and exactly when youвЂ™re going to accomplish specific tasks. This allows you to work undistracted and still know youвЂ™ll get to things like email and phone calls. Reactive blocks are when you allow time for requests and interruptions, such as email and impromptu meetings.ДЇor example, you could schedule your most challenging tasks for the first two hours of the day and plow through your inbox during the afternoon. This is when you make progress on important projects, draft important documents, or sketch out a prototype for your next great product. Proactive blocks are when you focus on important tasks that you must get done. When scheduling out tasks, itвЂ™s important to block out both proactive blocks and reactive blocks.

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