Speaking a software developer, I think this technique can be quite powerful. You'll often hear people talk about the Pomodoro Technique[1]. I don't always org

Speaking a software developer, I think this technique can be quite powerful. You'll often hear people talk about the Pomodoro Technique[1]. I don't always organize my day around promodoros, but when I'm under the gun, it's a great way to maximize productivity by minimizing task waste. I see a common anti-pattern in myself and other developers that I call the "depth-first problem solving" method. In short, it's when you go down the rabbit hole and loose sight of what you were originally trying to accomplish. Others call this issue "Yak Shaving"[2]. By forcing you to take stock of what you're doing and give yourself a breather, I find one is better able to keep on-task. Also, when doing pomodoros, the side benefits is that you're only working on one thing. Even if you're not doing something more sophisticated like pomodoros, taking a break every 20 minutes can be very useful even for "in-the-zone" type activities, like coding, which can take some time to get into. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique [2] http://www.hanselman.com/blog/YakShavingDefinedIllGetThatDoneAsSoonAsIShaveThisYak.aspx http://www.hanselman.com/blog/YakShavingDefinedIllGetThatDon...