Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

10 Min. Slots - Questions

 

I'm
new to PA and following the first piece of advice - break tasks down
to 10 min. slots. It works well, but still have some questions:

1 Does one take breaks in between
the 10 min. slots? I feel I need a 2-3 min. break.

2. What is a constructive break
what's an unconstructive break? (I'm assuming email and Facebook are not)

3. Can you give tips on how to start? 

 Thanks

 

Breaking it down

There seem to be two popular ways of time management for procrastinators: 10 minutes at a time and the Pomodoro technique. The latter involves working for 25 minutes then breaking for five then repeating. Apparently one "earns" a longer break after four Pomodoros (pomodora?) are completed. The (10 + 2) X 5 is working for 10 minutes, procrastinating for two, then going back. It's a constructive way to break up an hour.  

- "A procrastinator's work is never done."

Re: Breaking it down

 Thanks Vientir, that really helps me too! I didn't know how to handle the breaks either. I like the last one the best because it allows for "procrastinating" for 2 minutes.

 

"If you feel you're about to drown, remember Tool 1 and Break .. It .. Down"

 

 

length of breaks

On stuff I've been having real trouble with (like house cleaning) I have been known to do 10 or even 5 minutes of housework and then a 5 minutes break, just to con my brain it's not really having to do the work.  Then as I've got into the task, I've found myself doing longer as I feel the achievement of getting somehting done.

H.

The pomodoro technique asks

The pomodoro technique asks you to take a break by stepping away from the computer. i.e. dont surf email etc. Get up, stretch, get a drink , meditate whatever. At the end of 4 pomodoros (25min slots) you get a half hour break. 25min was too much for me to handle so i started doing 10min and then jumping around the room for 1-2 mins to pump myself up and repeating phrases like 'yes yes yes i love doing my work'. lol. silly i know!

Not silly

I don't think it's silly, maybe as PAs we are just not used to positive affirmations.

Re Lavi

I think they're serious about the two minutes, too. They encourage active procrastination or some form of slacking for two minutes so the urge to do it later is mitigated.   

- "A procrastinator's work is never done."