This link has been bookmarked by 393 people and liked by 1 people. It was first bookmarked on 04 Jul 2010, by someone privately.
-
31 Dec 17
-
19 Mar 15
Sally Norton-Darr"Procrastination hack: '(10+2)*5'
Merlin Mann | Oct 11 2005
Following on the idea of the procrastination dash and Jeff’s progressive dash, I’ve been experimenting with a squirelly new system to pound through my procrastinated to-do list. Brace yourself, because it is a bit more byzantine than is Merlin 2005’s newly stripped-down habit. It’s called (10+2)*5," -
12 Jul 14
-
12 Mar 14
-
27 May 13
-
07 Apr 13
-
30 Mar 13
-
27 Jan 13
-
What will happen
You’ll blaze through an hour’s worth of work/not work and will find yourself looking forward to both the breaking and working parts of the cycle. (Dang, how’s that for a change?)
The MacGuffin
The Now Habit
by Neil FioreOkay, you caught me. That’s the hack: you can and eventually will skip breaks.
In his (extremely wonderful) The Now Habit, Neil Fiore suggests a similar habit of “unscheduling,” where you only make obligations to the things that you enjoy and that are not the source of procrastination. John Perry suggests “Structured Procrastination,” where you only give high priority to “unimportant” tasks. Of course, this is taken to a hilarious extreme with Joshua Newman’s plan for scheduling just a few minutes of work per hour, and then focusing on the “more important” tasks like DVD re-arranging.
-
-
30 Aug 12
-
09 Aug 12
-
25 Jul 12
-
09 May 12
-
17 Nov 11
-
12 Nov 11
-
11 Nov 11
-
06 Nov 11
-
15 Oct 11
-
28 Sep 11
-
27 Sep 11
William BlakeVERY USEFUL WHEN HAVING A TON OF NIGGLING THINGS TO ACCOMPLISH. LESS GOOD FOR SUSTAINED CREATIVE/STUDIO TIME. THOUGH I SUPPOSE YOU COULD JUST EXPAND THE TIME SEGMENTS TO SOMETHING LONGER.
“(10+2)*5” can be adapted in any number of ways (change any of theprocrastination productivity inspiration arsenal creativity delicious
-
24 Sep 11
-
14 Aug 11
-
10 Jul 11
-
03 Jun 11
-
26 Apr 11
-
25 Apr 11
-
Procrastination hack: '(10+2)*5'
-
-
23 Apr 11
-
20 Apr 11
-
04 Apr 11
-
27 Mar 11
-
14 Mar 11
-
01 Mar 11
-
28 Feb 11
-
04 Feb 11
-
these goofy hacks only work because you’re a pathetic bastard like me whose mind can be tricked into work as easily as it can be lulled into torpor
-
-
19 Jan 11
-
29 Dec 10
-
23 Dec 10
-
a timer
-
to-do list
-
Work for ten minutes with single-minded focus on moving toward completion on a single task.
-
2-minute break to do whatever you want
-
*5 - You’re going to iterate this
-
make obligations to the things that you enjoy and that are not the source of procrastination.
-
Set your rules, follow your rules, and keep moving forward.
-
-
22 Dec 10
-
18 Dec 10
-
01 Dec 10
-
27 Nov 10
-
16 Nov 10
-
28 Sep 10
-
09 Sep 10
Jan Erik SundströmMetoden (10+2)*5 mot procrastination.
computersSoftwareGtd psychotherapyGtdTheory phonesAndroidSoftwareTo-do-listsGtd phonesAndroidSoftware phonesAndroidSoftwareTo-do-lists
-
31 Aug 10
-
10 Aug 10
ecuddihyVery clever trick - can be done with other numbers in the timer slots. Needs a timer. Great for faking out the "OMG - MUST COMPLETE BEFORE CLOCK TICKS" feeling.
-
27 Jul 10
-
12 Jul 10
-
02 Jul 10
-
20 Jun 10
Geoff Edwards10 minutes of hard work + 2 minutes of break x 5 iterations
productivity procrastination gtd organizatoin merlinmann 43folders work mytools ***
-
15 Jun 10
-
09 Jun 10
-
procrastinators
-
Procrastination hack: '(10+2)*5'
-
It’s called (10+2)*5, and today it will save your ass.
-
Who it’s for
-
procrastinators
-
the easily distracted
-
compulsive web-surfers
-
What you’ll need
-
a timer
-
must be easy to reset
-
electronic kitchen timer is particularly good (pref. with multiple alarm memories), or
-
an app like Minuteur (get the newest version—several cool new features)
-
a reduced subset of your to-do list
-
tasks that can be worked on (not necessarily completed) in blocks of 10 minutes or less
-
an hour of your time (less is potentially okay, but it’s non-canonical)
-
your sorry, procrastinating ass
-
How it works
It’s called “(10+2)*5” and here’s why:
-
10 - Work for ten minutes with single-minded focus on moving toward completion on a single task. Ten minutes, and that’s all you’re allowed to do is work, work, work. No cheating, because (DING!) you actually get a break when you’re done…
-
2 - After ten minutes of sweaty, dedicated work you get a 2-minute break to do whatever you want—drink coffee, read 5ives, call your bookie, whatever. When the two minutes are up, it’s back to work on the next task on your list. This is important.
-
*5 - You’re going to iterate this four more times for a total of one hour’s working/breaking
-
- You do not need to finish your task or your project in ten minutes; you just need to move it forward
- If you finish a satisfying amount of work in fewer than ten minutes, STOP, and go right to your 2-minute break, than start another 10-minute dash
- Do NOT skip breaks! You are not allowed. Breaks cannot be missed. Period. Go surf the web. Now. Seriously. GO!
Important squirrely rules
-
What will happen
You’ll blaze through an hour’s worth of work/not work and will find yourself looking forward to both the breaking and working parts of the cycle. (Dang, how’s that for a change?)
-
The MacGuffin
The Now Habit
by Neil FioreOkay, you caught me. That’s the hack: you can and eventually will skip breaks.
-
Your hacks for your problems
“(10+2)*5” can be adapted in any number of ways (change any of the three numerals to your liking), but remember: these goofy hacks only work because you’re a pathetic bastard like me whose mind can be tricked into work as easily as it can be lulled into torpor. Set your rules, follow your rules, and keep moving forward. Snap that procrastination by slipping your work through the back door.
Now go take a break. You’ve earned, you hard-working hacker, you.
-
-
03 Jun 10
-
30 May 10
-
27 May 10
-
25 May 10
-
20 May 10
-
10 May 10
-
03 May 10
Marcelo Ancelmoe cases—each of which will surely seem ludicrous to the “Why don’t you just go do your damned work?” crowd—the trick is to snap your mind out of the inert state that’s allowing procrastination to take over. You’re breaking down whatever re
-
18 Apr 10
-
13 Apr 10
-
24 Mar 10
-
18 Mar 10
-
29 Jan 10
-
27 Jan 10
-
27 Dec 09
-
23 Dec 09
-
01 Dec 09
-
mitcholsonExperimenting with Timeboxing techniques like & with Minuteur
-
26 Nov 09
-
06 Nov 09
-
George SFollowing on the idea of the procrastination dash and Jeff’s progressive dash, I’ve been experimenting with a squirelly new system to pound through my procrastinated to-do list. Brace yourself, because it is a bit more byzantine than is Merlin 2005’s newly stripped-down habit. It’s called (10+2)*5, and today it will save your ass.
productivity gtd procrastination lifehacks organization howto hack personal
-
07 Sep 09
-
04 Sep 09
-
31 Aug 09
-
05 Aug 09
-
22 Jul 09
Patrick HelmesFor * procrastinators * the easily distracted * compulsive web-surfers * people with a long list of very short tasks (a/k/a “mosquitos”) * people having trouble chipping away at very large tasks ~have we met before?
productivity lifehacks organization howto work time_management
-
13 Jul 09
-
23 Jun 09
-
01 Jun 09
-
28 May 09
Jorge SuarezBien vale la pena echarle un buen ojo y tratarlo! pasado por el buen Ten! ;) http://bit.ly/3ZcCf [from http://twitter.com/jorgefsb/statuses/1912036640]
tweecious MerlinMann Drupal Google CreativeCommonslicenses GettingThingsDone Procrastination Programming Languages
-
12 May 09
-
20 Apr 09
-
15 Apr 09
-
a timer
-
next actions only
-
Work for ten minutes with single-minded focus
-
2-minute break to do whatever you want
-
Do NOT skip breaks!
-
blaze through an hour’s worth of work/not work
-
d eventually will skip breaks.
-
nap your mind out of the inert state that’s allowing procrastination to take over.
-
-
09 Apr 09
-
08 Apr 09
-
10 Mar 09
-
06 Mar 09
-
05 Mar 09
-
03 Mar 09
-
02 Mar 09
-
09 Jan 09
-
01 Dec 08
Page Comments
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.