The Indiana Jones productivity hack
How to harness your imagination to get yourself fired up and find the momentum to get shit done.
If you are even mildly interested in productivity or time management hacks, chances are you have probably heard of the famous Pomodoro technique, the time management technique developed by Francesco Trillo in the late 1980s.
This technique requires its user to use a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.
In the Pomodoro Technique, each interval is known as a pomodoro. The word pomodoro is from the Italian word for ‘tomato’. The technique is so named because its creator Frenceso Cirillo used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer as a university student.
When using the Pomodoro technique, the steps that you take are as follows: -
identify your tasks for the day. And then you set a timer for 25 minutes;
work on task that you’ve just decided to work on;
you work for the duration of the timer;
having done that, you take a five minute break;
after every fourth break, you are awarded by a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.
Sounds simple and neat enough to follow through, right?
While the Pomodoro technique could be very useful for getting us into the state of ‘flow’ and concentration when we feel sluggish and don’t feel like working at all (The thought of working JUST 25 minutes does make the action of having to get started more pleasant), it’s obviously that working nonstop for 25 minutes doesn’t mean that you get work done more quickly. You can still be staring at your screen blankly when you don’t feel like working (while you’re still technically following the Pomodoro technique)
However, there are also shortcomings to the technique. When motivation comes easily, I don’t really need the Pomodoro technique to get me started.
And taking a break every 25 minutes doesn’t sound like something very pleasant to do for me, as I am one of those people who enjoy working nonstop once I’ve gotten into the state of ‘flow’.
In this article. however, I’d like to share with you a technique that could help overcome the shortcomings of the Pomodoro technique.
I’ve personally used this technique myself to give an extra boost to my productivity and get things done more quickly. Using this technique, I gamify my work by setting myself micro-deadlines (without having to planned a whole lot in advance) so that I can crush procrastination, and get tasks done faster.
I call this method the Indiana Jones productivity hack.
We all know how Indy has to race against time to steer clear of dangers that could constantly befall him in the famous Indiana Jones franchise.
When I use this method, I’m able to harness my own innate competitive nature and get work done more quickly.
How I do this is very simple.
When I’m at work, I’m at the office, which means I’m working together with my colleagues.
Whenever there’s any activity that starts happening in an office which can serve to mark the beginning and the end of a segment of time, I kickstart in my mind a race against time.
Say for example, whenever one of my colleagues goes poo, goes out for lunch, or starts editing a video, I make up my mind in my head that I’ll have to finish writing one article or email (or any other task that suits the expected timeframe) before he or she returns from lunch, from toilet, or finishes that task
While trying to get the task done in time, I fantasise that I’m Indiana Jones and if I don’t get the tasks done within minutes, some fatal danger will befall me.
This way, I’ll gain the momentum to get things done quickly this way because this mental game in my head gives myself a mini-goal that I have to achieve within a fixed time-frame.
It makes the process of getting a task done exciting and game-like.
I think this technique is, in a way, superior to the Pomodoro technique in the sense that it stresses me out a little bit. I love that extra dose of adrenaline forces me to speed up my work.
All that the Pomodoro technique requires of me is that I keep working for 25 minutes, which sounds a little boring to me.
However, when I think and imagine that I’m having a race against time, I leverage on my competitive nature and get myself fired up to want to get things done more quickly.
Not sure if this technique will come in handy for introverts, but as a natural extrovert, I find it really useful as it also allows me to ‘brag’ to my colleagues that I’ve got a massive task done by the time they return to the desk (if they don’t wanna hear me brag about my progress, I’ll virtually tell them in my head, or I’ll tell them at lunch). Chances are, they’ll be impressed at my productivity and share my sense of accomplishment from having gotten a task done. Even if they don’t, I can always take pride in my own efficiency.
Now that I’ve finished writing this article, I can go rewatch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark as a reward. (Kidding, I’m going back to filming my second digital course product that’s coming out soon.)
