Daily Hits of Happy: May 22, 2020 - 252 - "Timing Time with Timers"

Friday, May 22, 2020

May 22, 2020 - 252 - "Timing Time with Timers"

One Bite At A Time

The old joke advises that the way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Luckily, eating a pachyderm has never been on my to-do list. But when it comes to any project, big or small, I do know that the hardest part is getting started.

That's the main thing that timers do for me. Setting a timer for a small amount of time makes me get started. And getting started is half the battle.

Once I'm started, it also keeps me focused and motivated.

But this concept had an unexpected outcome: I've spent the last ten or fifteen years in search of the perfect timer for every job.

Kitchen Timers: Not Just For Kitchens Anymore

The first person I heard this idea from was a woman known as 'Fly Lady.' Fly Lady teaches streamlined ways to keep your house in order. One of her many (many) useful tips is to set a timer for 15 minutes and get started.

I started trying this with a kitchen egg timer. That worked pretty well, but I had to remember to bring it from room to room when doing household jobs. If I left it in another room, I couldn't hear it go off.

Timer Two

Eventually, I bought Fly Lady's cute little timer. I could clip it to my waistband, and it went around the house with me.

Using it made me focus on whatever task I'd planned to work on. With just 15 minutes to go, getting distracted was out of the question. It was a race against the clock, and I wanted to get my one thing done and earn that rush you get from the 'win' of getting something done.

You Say Tomato, I Say Timer

Then I read about a similar idea developed by Francesco Cirillo. He invented the Pomodoro Technique in the '90s. The idea is that if you have a big task, you break the job down into shorter timed sprints, called pomodoros.

The word, pomodoro, is 'tomato' in Italian, and he'd been using a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato.

He recommended the following 6 Steps:

1 -Decide on what you want to do.

2 -Set the pomodoro, (he liked 25-minute intervals

3-Work on the task

4-When the timer rings, put a checkmark on a piece of paper

5 -If you have fewer than four checkmarks, you take a quick 3-5 minute break, then go back to the second step

6-After you've done four pomodoro, you take a 15-30 minute break. Then you start all over again on one.

When I searched Amazon for pomodoro timers I found these groovy square ones that I've really enjoyed:

Unfortunately, these tend to stop working pretty quickly.

Next Generation

Then I moved onto these Play/Work timers that were about the same thing, but had a dual work/break timer built-in.

I thought that would be easier, but I didn't like the amount of time they allowed. (30 work - 5 break). You couldn't adjust it at all. Some jobs just take longer than others.

It Seemed So Perfect

I recently found these cool hexagonal timers. It had multiple times pre-set. You just flip it to the amount of time you want and go.

This, too, stopped working pretty quickly. I am returning it and hoping the next one lasts longer.