I’ve always been a fan of the Pomodoro Technique. It’s simple, it’s elegant and it works. You work for twenty five minutes, you focus on one thing and get it done. Then you allow yourself five minutes of distractions in a break and then you work for another twenty five minutes. You repeat this till your possibly can. There are physical twenty five minute timers you can buy for this.
But that’s just one aspect of Pomodoro. What if I told you that you could have a personalized Pomodoro instructor who would not just push you to work, but would demote you if you didn’t work hard enough. And he would even insult you and humiliate you with taunts if you were procrastinating. He would give you five minute breaks and once your breaks are over he would blow a loud whistle not just letting you, but your colleagues (who are hanging out with you) know that you now need to go back to work? Feels like an army trainer, doesn’t it?
I don’t know about you, but I like honest blatant truth. I mean if I can tell people to stop bitching and get back to work I don’t mind someone doing that to me. And I like tough instructors. No seriously; I do. One of the reasons I moved out of a gym and setup a gym at my home was because my gym instructor just wasn’t challenging me hard enough. And when it comes to work, I am also one of those people who don’t mind introspecting on questions like - Am I a Phony who hasn’t achieved much in life. The question (and the brutally honest answer I give myself) gets me down temporarily but pushes me forward in the long run.
So yeah, I love tough love - specially when I am dealing with myself.
And that is exactly why I love the Productivity Challenge Timer - which can be your personalized Pomodoro Instructor who has literally no feelings and is completely ruthless when it comes to getting you to work more.
The author of the application talks to you in first person and tells you how ruthless and unforgiving the application can be when it comes to getting you to work:
Work consistently and it promotes you and opens up new achievements for you which you can proudly flaunt. Cut some slack for yourself and the same app will not just humiliate you, but demote you with a loud sound so everyone around you at your workplace knows you were just demoted!
The app is humorous, it’s witty and the creepy part is, it’s addictive. And It makes you work! Folks around me now hear sounds and know when I am ready for a break. I am guessing they even know when I am promoted and when I am cutting slack or acting lazy or getting demoted.
What’s even more amazing is that the app knows and understands the hard realities of distractions and meetings in the typical work environment. The other day, I worked for four hours completely meeting-and-distraction-free and the app not just gave me a promotion but told me in clear terms that ‘you worked for four hours today, which is rather rare in a typical office environment’ and it opened up an achievement for me.
I wasn’t able to work for four hours the next day because I had to interview four fresh candidates and the app wouldn’t listen to any of my excuses. It called me a ‘slacker’ and demoted me ruthlessly; leaving me with no options other than canceling some redundant meetings the next day and doing some more focused deep work.
There are very few apps that I literally use everyday of my life and Productivity Challenge Timer is one of them. I am not associated or affiliated with the app in any way; just a user who loves the app; and I would go so far as saying that if there is only one productivity application you are allowed to have on your phone, this should be that app! Especially if you like the idea of being tough to yourself and if you have a sense of humor.
Go download the free app and you’ll know exactly what I mean.
And… now if you will excuse me, I need to get back to work because Productivity Challenge Timer just started blowing the work whistle and I really don’t feel like getting demoted twice this week!
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