Hey Monday! Anyone else have a to-do list about as long as that last mile on your morning run? A circle of my friends and I have been trying out the Pomodoro Technique – the approach to time management where you give yourself 25 minutes to do something, then take a 5 minute break, and then get back at it again.

I’ve been thinking a lot about those wide open spaces days when you have all day to get your stuff done. (The ones I used to dream about when I would go out to my car at lunch to pump and sneak in a power nap.) Turns out, sometimes on those days when you have grand plans to do some major Reaganing, you wind up only accomplishing one or two things. This can be explained by Parkinson’s Law, the concept that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. Like back in school, it didn’t matter if you had two weeks or two months to write a paper, you would take up until the night before to complete it (and cry about how stressed out you were). Fast forward to life now, if I have all day to clean the house, I will somehow find a way to take all day to do it. There is some truth to that saying, If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. I used to feel so accomplished (also exhausted, let’s remember) when I was working full time. Because I had no choice but to schedule everything, and there was never flexibility to take care of something later or tomorrow. So that’s where the Pomodoro Technique comes in. Limit your time and concentrate your energy into 30 minutes of productivity at a time.

I’m taking this whole deal one step further and have started creating 30 minute playlists on Spotify. As I stare down a disastrous kitchen, I turn up my Get it done mix and get to work. Being aware of the time and those last couple tracks help me kick it in to high gear (thanks Beibs). Are you guys on Spotify? I’d love to check out any awesome playlists you have put together. My music is always random, seldom cool, and typically a few years behind the curve. If that’s your jam, too, I will for sure follow you.

Now, let’s dancing-lady-emoji do this, Monday.