Starting a business is a lot of work, especially when you’re doing it all yourself. I need all the hours I can get in a day, so I came up with a handy little practice that’s really increased my productivity. Yes, I’d even say it’s doubled it (hmmm…does that mean it was abnormally low to begin with?). Your mileage may vary, of course, but if you follow this advice and stick to it, it’s just about impossible to not see your productivity go up.

The Trick

So what is it? What is the miracle of productivity tips that has naught been divined hence?

Simple: when you sit down to work, set a timer. Work your butt off until that timer buzzes, then take a break. Lather, rinse, repeat until it’s time to go home. Let me explain.

I find I can concentrate steadily for about 2 hours at a time. So I set the timer for 2 hours. Once the 2 hours is up, I take a 15 minute break (using the timer), during which time I’m checking blogs, twitter, Facebook, or most importantly – playing with the dog. Lunch time is a little different – I typically take 45 minutes to an hour. I get in four quality 2-hour work sessions every day with little to no distraction. This, in my opinion, is awesome.

How it Works

Why does this work so well? For me, it’s the assurance of knowing I’ll be able to goof off soon enough. That way, I feel compelled to concentrate for 2 hours because I know I’ll be immediately rewarded at the end of it. But during the breaks, anything goes, and since I’ve just worked for 2 hours, I don’t feel guilty goofing off a bit.

Timers to Try

If you want to give this a try, I can recommend a few timers. If you’ve got an iPhone or iPod touch, just use the Timer app that comes with it (make sure you turn the volume up so you can hear the timer go off). If you run OS X, give a timer dashboard widget a try. There are two that I like: Stop It! (my fav) and Tea Timer. If you run Windows, uhhhh…do you own an egg timer?

Bonus

Bonus tip: write your todo’s for the day down. Tackle the tough creative ones in the morning (especially the ones you’re dreading). You’ll feel a since of accomplishment and be motivated to do the boring stuff. Do the administrative stuff and email after lunch.

Bonus bonus tip: don’t do personal email at work!

What do you think? Do you have any easy productivity tips of your own you’d like to share? Comment below!