Time Management Tips Featured on the Penny Hoarder

Originally posted by TIFFANY WENDELN CONNORS. See the original article. 

Time Blocking Assistance

If you work from home, expect to swear by tomatoes.

Actually, it’s called the Pomodoro Technique (“pomodoro” is Italian for tomato), which is based on a time-management system developed in the 1980s.

Kyle Taylor, our CEO at The Penny Hoarder, has talked in interviews about using some Pomodoro tips himself.

The technique requires one of those kitchen timers (the original was a tomato-shaped timer, thus its name). You set it for 25-minute increments of work followed by five-minute breaks until you reach four rounds. Then you take an even longer break.

Stefano Young, who works from home as a writer and musician, notes that he uses the Pomodoro Technique to prioritize tasks for that day, then uses the information to plan for the future.

“At the end of the day, you record your completed pomodoros in a spreadsheet to learn how long different tasks take to complete,” Young says.

There are also more high tech alternatives to using the red fruit.

Smart-home devices, for instance, allow you to schedule timers and alerts without the distractions that come with smartphones and smartwatches, says Brieanna Scolaro, who works from home part time.

“I can say commands out loud to my Google Home without my phone being next to me,” says Scolaro, the lead strategist at consulting firm Scolaro & Associates. “I can strategically use the technology to interrupt me at key points to help get back on track, to help break up my schedule or remind me of a certain mantra.

“It can be sort of like working in an office or having an assistant remind you of things that allow you to be more effective.”