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I do exactly the same thing, but when you think about it, isn't this just a pomodoro? You work for 25 minutes. An alarm rings. You take a 5 minute "break". In reality, in that "break" I quickly write down what I accomplished in the last 25 minutes and update my TODO. I also look at my DONE tasks in my TODO list and think about what I was doing and why. I've often found this kind of retrospective to be valuable. I'll notice that there is a better way to accomplish what I'm doing, etc, etc. As crazy as it sounds, I've even experimented with 5 minute "pomodoros" using this technique - 5 minutes on and 1 minute reflecting. What can you do in only 5 minutes? When I first started it was hard to think in those terms, but as I got better at it, I realised that almost everything I do takes less than 5 minutes. If it takes more, then it's an indication that I need to rethink my approach. For example, if I'm reading code, it makes sense that it would take more than 5 minutes, so I'll make a goal -- find out how X works. If I'm not finished in 5 minutes, in my 1 minute retrospective I think, "Am I approaching this task in the right way? Is there a better approach?" If no, then the next 5 minutes will be the same as the first. However, I often find that having that break snaps me out of doing unnecessary things. I can't do the 5 minute thing every day (it is exhausting). I'm dramatically more productive with it, though (surprisingly so). It's made me realise that these kind of enforced reflection periods are really valuable. While you are reflecting, it's easy to write down what you just did, so it's kind of 2 birds with 1 stone. |