Popcorn is a great snack at the movie theater AND it’s also a fantastic way to get things done at the office. I’m referring to a technique called “popcorning” that helps you blast away small tasks quickly, leaving you feeling productive and accomplished.
For this technique, you will need a small digital timer, often found in the grocery store or kitchen gadgets section of a department store.
Action – Set the timer for, say, 10 minutes. As it counts down, you stay focused on a single task, like filing or deleting old emails. When you hear the timer ring out, you reset it for another 10 minutes and focus on a different task, such as organizing your desk. Keep doing this for a period of time, such as 30 or 60 minutes.
Popcorning is a fantastic way to get focused, get things done and feel like your making headway.
Here are some of the things I do with popcorning:
- 15 minutes to respond to emails
- 15 minutes tidying up the office
- 15 minutes for short phone calls
- 10 minutes for filing
- 10 minutes for organizing online systems
Simply choose the task and the amount of time and hit START. When you’re done, sit back and take a look at what you actually got done in such a short period of time!