Is that a dancing tomato? Work tips and tricks

[shannonem]

Hey Alteryx Community Friends-

I was digging deep for an inspirational post but sometimes the more practical parts of life are better to share. This week we are going with sharing work tips & tricks inspired by @Kenda and her blog post around the Pomodoro Technique & Alteryx.

I like using this technique because time management is a skill I am always improving. In today's world, it is easy to get distracted from tasks at hand and it helps me stay focused. I found an option that has a dancing tomato at the end of each section of time for an added bit of fun. 

It is wearing a tie and dancing - it is a win win, my friends.

Another tip I will share is prioritization and something I am working on the rest of 2022. Community professionals tend to want to help everyone and all at once. But a lack of focus can lead to overwhelming moments and burn out which is no good! Enter in prioritization lists:

This new technique will help me focus and get what needs to be done done. I think it is good to point out that you can change the headings of the lists to fit you at work. Example: "Other People Want Me To" could be labelled as "Other Teams Who Need My Help" or "I have to" is "Due today."

Grouping priorities together is important so you can feel accomplished and successful. 

Alright, enough of me talking at you - what are your work tips or tricks that have helped you? Or what are the things that you could not live without doing each day? Share with the Community, you never know who is reading. 

[Kenda]

Thanks for promoting my article, @shannonem!

Another thing that I find helpful is color coding. Along the same lines as your idea of breaking up to-do lists into different categories, I think that color coding them (e.g. using different colored pens or papers) helps to create that clear separation/prioritization.  

[Kenda]

I just realized I should have been clever and made some sort of play on words with Pomodoro and promote in my first reply... but alas

[shannonem]

Ooooh yes @Kenda - I love a good color coding situation. What colors do you use in yours? My brain likes to default to the traffic sign colors - red, yellow, green.

[Kenda]

Well now this just seems excessive compared to your 3 colors... 

[MeganBowers]

@Kenda PROMOdoro 😁

@shannonem love both of the graphics in your post! I'm a big fan of task organization and prioritization.

[shannonem]

Oooh, you love a good ballpoint pen, I see!

I am more of a fine point kinda gal myself. Also now slightly worried I am missing one and haven't noticed. Or it might be my sign to get a new set. 🤔

[IraWatt]

Had to think for this one, don't think I can top the dancing tomato...

I think I could possibly live without them, but sticky notes (used to have multiple colours but now just have yellow) are great for reminding me of my priorities.

My work tip would be to always try have a few goals/projects of varying difficulty. The easy one should give you quick wins that keep you motivated for the harder more long term tasks (that's the theory anyway) 😄 . 

[Adrian_T]

Loving all the tomatoes 🍅 and great article @Kenda! 

@IraWattI share the same advice too. An extension to planning tasks of different difficulties is the Two Minute Rule from David Allen’s book on time management - Get Things Done.

Here’s an insightful quote from the book:

"If the next action can be done in two minutes or less, do it when you first pick the item up…The rationale for the two-minute rule is that it’s more or less the point where it starts taking longer to store and track an item than to deal with it the first time it’s in your hands—in other words, it’s the efficiency cutoff."