My first job out of University was writing and performing comedy for a television show. On the whole it was as enjoyable as it sounds – mainly due to the people I worked with: Hori Ahipene, Lyndee-Jane Rutherford, Rawiri Paratene, Dave Fane, Dave Armstrong, Cal Wilson, Raybon Kan, Jemaine Clement, Oscar Kightley, Pip Hall, Paul Yates, Robbie Magasiva, Jackie Clarke etc. However, I don’t know if Rawiri Paratene forgave me for my excitement that he was the Play School presenter from my childhood when he is one of the best actors, writers and directors (amongst other impressive life achievements) in Aotearoa with an impressive resume for film, theatre and TV.
But what wasn’t fun was having to write up my invoice each week to account for my hours each day – what hours did I work on Monday? Did I leave early on Friday and come in on Saturday morning – or was that last week? I would look over my diary and try to work it out.
In my second life (post-children) I have worked as an Instructional Designer for over 15 years and like a lot of jobs I need to look at how I spend my time and how to make the best use of my time.
Below are two short videos of two free time tools I use every work day that help with accountability and productivity; and how I use these two time tools.
Yast
Kia ora – Ko Rochelle tōku ingoa. My name is Rochelle. I am going to talk you through how I use Yast. Shout out to my friend Ben who introduced me to this and which I have been using for over ten years ago. Also a disclaimer – I am going to show you how I use Yast and how I would show a friend.
This is not to say there are not other ways you could use it and this is just for the free version. You first of all need to create an account which is very simple – it just requires your email address. I won’t show you that in this video but I assure it is quick and simple.
I use Yast everyday – it is great if you are either a freelancer; or have several jobs or need to keep track of the time you spend on different aspects of your job.
You can create folders – or categories – and have tasks within them. You can make it as detailed as you like. The best aspect of it it is it is really simple. You click on what you are working on and when you finish you click off it.
If you forget to click off it – you can adjust it. The other aspect I like is at the the end of the month – or whatever time period you choose you can select and see how you spent your time and report that to others.
So that’s how I use yast. I am sure there are other ways you can use it and as I say this is just the free version.
Pomodoro
Kia ora – Ko Rochelle tōku ingoa. My name is Rochelle. I am going to talk you through how I use Pomodoro.
I encountered the pomodoro method on Barbara Oakley’s Learning how to learn course. The science behind it is that humans tend to work best in chunks of time – 25 minutes and then to have a 5 minute break and carry on.
I work from home and it can be tragically easy to carry on working and it means you don’t allow your brain the possibility of the aha moments – you know the solutions you have when you stop and have a cup of tea or go and hang out the washing.
The other bonus is if you are feeling particularly uninspired about a task – you can say ‘only ten more minutes and I can have a break’ it helps you stay on task’.
This carries on for several hours and then it schedules a 15 minute longer break. And after this break – back to the 5 minute breaks. Now you can also pause both your working time or break time if you need to.
As you can see you can use other features – such as adding a to do list however I tend to use it in its simplest form and that is what suits me – I just like getting on with it.
Ngā mihi
Image credits:
Sunset Home Office by Viktor Hanacek on Picjumbo
