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The secret to effective time management is...thinking in tomatoes rather than hours. It may seem silly initially, but millions of people swear by the life-changing power of the Pomodoro Technique. (Pomodoro is Italian for tomato. 🍅)

This popular time management method asks you to alternate pomodoros - focused work sessions - with frequent short breaks to promote sustained concentration and stave off mental fatigue.

Try the Pomodoro Technique if you...

Find little distractions often derail the whole workday

Consistently work past the point of optimal productivity

Have lots of open-ended work that could take unlimited amounts of time (e.g., studying for an exam, researching a blog post, etc.)

Are overly optimistic when it comes to how much you can get done in a day (aren't we all 🙃)

Enjoy gamified goal-setting

Really like tomatoes

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique was developed in the late 1980s by then-university student Francesco Cirillo. Cirillo was struggling to focus on his studies and complete assignments. Feeling overwhelmed, he asked himself to commit to just 10 minutes of focused study time. Encouraged by the challenge, he found a tomato (pomodoro in Italian) shaped kitchen timer, and the Pomodoro technique was born.

Though Cirillo went on to write a 130-page book about the method, its biggest strength is its simplicity:

1. Get a to-do list and a timer.

2. Set your timer for 25 minutes, and focus on a single task until the timer rings.

3. When your session ends, mark off one pomodoro and record what you completed.

4. Then enjoy a five-minute break.

5. After four pomodoros, take a longer, more restorative 15-30 minute break.

The 25-minute work sprints are the core of the method, but a Pomodoro practice also includes three rules for getting the most out of each interval:

1. Break down complex projects. If a task requires more than four pomodoros, it needs to be divided into smaller, actionable steps. Sticking to this rule will help ensure you make clear progress on your projects.

2. Small tasks go together. Any tasks that will take less than one Pomodoro should be combined with other simple tasks. For example, "write rent check," "set vet appointment," and "read Pomodoro article" could go together in one session.

3. Once a pomodoro is set, it must ring. The pomodoro is an indivisible unit of time and can not be broken, especially not to check incoming emails, team chats, or text messages. Any ideas, tasks, or requests that come up should be noted to return to later. A digital task manager like Todoist is a great place for these, but pen and paper will do, too.

In the event of an unavoidable disruption, take your five-minute break and start again. Cirillo recommends that you track interruptions (internal or external) as they occur and reflect on how to avoid them in your next session.

The rule applies even if you finish your task before the timer goes off. Use the rest of your time for overlearning, or improving skills or scope of knowledge. For example, you could spend the extra time reading up on professional journals or researching networking opportunities.

Todoist Tip

If the system seems simple, that's because it is. The Pomodoro technique is all about getting your mind in the zone to finish your tasks.

What makes pomodoro so effective?

The arbitrary silliness of using a tomato as a stand-in for units of time belies the Pomodoro Technique's serious effectiveness in helping people get things done. Here's what makes the method uniquely suited to boosting productivity:

Making it easy to just get started

Research has shown that procrastination has little to do with laziness or lack of self-control. Rather, we put things off to avoid negative feelings. It's uncomfortable to stare down a big task or project - one you may not be sure how to even do or one that involves a lot of uncertainty. So we turn to Twitter or Netflix instead to boost our mood, if only temporarily.

Luckily, studies have also shown an effective way to break out of the avoidance cycle: shrink whatever it is you're putting off down to a tiny, unintimidating first step. For example, instead of sitting down to write a novel, sit down to write for 5 minutes. Still too hard? Try just sitting down to edit a paragraph. Doing something small for a short period of time is a whole lot easier to face than trying to take on a big project all at once.

That procrastination-busting strategy is exactly what the pomodoro technique asks you to do: break down your big tasks, projects, or goals into something you only have to do for the next 25 minutes. It keeps you hyper-focused on the next thing you need to do rather than get overwhelmed by the enormity of what you're taking on. Don't worry about the outcome - just take it one pomodoro at a time.

Combating distractions

If you've ever been interrupted when you were in a flow state, you know how difficult regaining focus can be. Yet, the constant stream of information pouring in via emails, team chats, and social media notifications demands more and more of our attention.

While it would be nice to blame technology for everything, recent studies suggest over half of all workday distractions are self-inflicted - meaning we pull ourselves out of focus. In the moment, it can be easy to justify these internal pulls - "This email is too important to wait," or "It took less than a minute to check my Twitter; it isn't a real distraction."

But those small interruptions add up! It isn't just the time you lose on distractions; it also takes time and energy to refocus your attention. After switching gears, our minds can linger over the previous task for over 20 minutes until we regain full concentration. Indulging the impulse to check Facebook "just for a minute" can turn into 20 minutes of trying to get back on task.

The Pomodoro Technique helps you resist all of those self-interruptions and re-train your brain to focus. Each pomodoro is dedicated to one task, and each break is a chance to reset and bring your attention back to what you should be working on.

Becoming more aware of where your time goes

When planning out our future projects, most of us fall victim to the planning fallacy - our tendency to vastly underestimate the time needed to complete future tasks, even when we know similar tasks have taken longer in the past. Your present self imagines your future self operating under entirely different circumstances and time restraints.

The Pomodoro technique can be a valuable weapon against the planning fallacy. When you start working in short, timed sessions, time is no longer an abstract concept but a concrete event. It becomes a pomodoro - a unit of both time and effort. Distinct from the idea of 25 minutes of general "work," the pomodoro is an event that measures focus on a single task (or several simple tasks).

The concept of time changes from a negative - something that has been lost - to a positive representation of events accomplished. Cirillo calls this "inverting time" because it changes the perception of time passing from an abstract source of anxiety to an exact measure of productivity. This leads to much more realistic time estimates.

Writer Ben Dolnick describes how his perception of time changed while using the method:

"Five minutes on the internet, as measured by my timer, would pass in what seemed to me about 35 seconds. A timed hour of research would seem to take between three and four hours. My timer was a crisp metal yardstick laid down in the fog of my temporal intuitions."

When you use the Pomodoro technique, you have a clear measurement of your finite time and your efforts, allowing you to reflect and plan your days more accurately and efficiently. With practice, you can accurately assess how many pomodoros a task will take and build more consistent work habits.

Gamifying your productivity

Every pomodoro provides an opportunity to improve upon the last. Cirillo argues that "concentration and consciousness lead to speed, one pomodoro at a time."

The Pomodoro technique is approachable because it is more about consistency than perfection. Each session is a fresh start to reevaluate your goals, challenge yourself to focus, and limit distractions. You can make the system work for you.

Motivate yourself to build on your success by setting a goal to add an extra pomodoro each day. Challenge yourself to finish a big task in a set number of pomodoros. Try setting a goal number of pomodoros for each day without breaking the chain. Thinking in tomatoes rather than hours is just more fun.

Quick tips for pomodoro-ing

While the 25/5 minute work/break intervals are the heart of the Pomodoro Technique, there are a few things you can do to make your pomodoros more effective:

Plan out your pomodoros in advance

Take 15 minutes at the beginning of your workday (or at the end if you're planning for the next day) to plan out your pomodoros. Take your to-do list for the day and note how many pomodoros each task will take. (Remember, tasks that will take more than 5 pomodoros should be broken down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Smaller tasks, like responding to emails, can be batched together in a single pomodoro.)

If you work an 8-hour workday, make sure your pomodoros for the day don't go over sixteen. If they do, postpone the least urgent/least important tasks for later in the week.

Build overflow pomodoros into your day

While an 8-hour workday technically leaves room for sixteen pomodoros, it's best to build in a buffer of 2-4 "overflow" pomodoros, just in case. Use your overflow pomodoros for tasks that take longer than you planned or for unexpected tasks that come up during the day.

If you don't end up needing them, use the extra pomodoros for learning or lower-priority tasks that always get pushed to the end of your to-do list. It's much less stressful to end the day with pomodoros to spare than to overschedule yourself and get behind.

How many pomodoros are in a day?

Experiment with the length of your pomodoros

For some types of work that require extended periods in a creative "flow" state - think coding, writing, composing, etc. - 25 minutes may be too short. Try extended work sessions with longer breaks. A DeskTime study found that a 52-minute focus and 17-minute break is the perfect balance. Others prefer 90 full minutes with a 20-30-minute break, based on Ultradian rhythms.

For tasks that you've been putting off for one reason or another, 25 minutes might be too long. If you're feeling a lot of mental resistance, or you just can't get yourself to stay focused for 25 minutes, try a 15-, 10-, or even 5-minute pomodoro.

For most people, most of the time, the sweet spot will be in the 25-50 minute range for peak concentration with a 5-15 minute break. Try mixing your intervals based on your available energy, the type of work, and how much a task makes you want to bury your head in cute puppy videos on YouTube instead.

Get away from screens during breaks

Not all breaks are created equal. If your pomodoro work sessions happen on your computer, don't just switch over to Twitter or Instagram when the timer goes off. Give your eyes and brain a break from screens - that means your phone, too! Stand up, move around, stretch, go outside, do a mini meditation, grab a snack, and watch birds out the window. If you work from home, fold some clothes or clear off the kitchen table.

Whatever you do, your break will be much more mentally refreshing if you escape the glowing hypnosis of your computer or phone.

Use an app to enforce your pomodoros

Humans are fallible. No matter how motivated you are at the start of the day, it's really hard to actually stick to your pomodoros. Hold yourself accountable with a break reminder app.

The best ones let you customize how long your work sessions are, how obtrusive you want your reminders to be, and how strictly you want your breaks enforced. Some will lock you out of your computer for the duration of your breaks.

We recommend BreakTimer (for both Windows and Mac.)

How to pomodoro with Todoist

So you're convinced the Pomodoro Technique is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now, it's time to put the method into action. Here's how to plan your pomodoros with Todoist:

Plan

At the start of each day (or the night before), review all your active projects and one-off tasks and schedule everything you want to accomplish for "Today."

Estimate how many pomodoros each task will take. Add tomato emojis to the end of the task name to indicate your pomodoro estimate.

Todoist Tip

Break anything bigger than four pomodoros down into smaller sub-tasks. For example, a project titled "redesign website" might need a more pomodoro-sized sub-task like "find 5 example websites as inspiration."

Now, when you open your Today view, you'll see your scheduled tasks and how many pomodoros each will take. Drag and drop your tasks to reflect the order in which you'll work on them.

If you have more than 12-14 pomodoros (remember that buffer!), postpone some of your tasks to the next day or later in the week. If you have 10 tasks you want to do in a day, you may find it helpful to schedule only half of the list and to assign an "@on_deck" label to indicate the tasks you'll get to if you have time.

Todoist Tip

Work

You'll start your day with a clear plan of what you'll work on during each pomodoro. You can use the timer on your phone, a physical Pomodoro timer, or any of the many digital alternatives like Pomodone which integrates with Todoist.

Once your timer starts, it must go off! Keep focused by adding any ideas or requests that come in as new tasks in your Todoist Inbox. When your timer runs out, you can review the list, schedule urgent tasks for a later pomodoro, and file away less urgent things for another day.

Repeat

Build your concentration muscle by making your pomodoro planning a daily routine. Add a task in Todoist for the same time each morning to remind yourself to plan out your pomodoros. Challenge yourself to hit a certain number of pomodoros each day, and take time at the end to reflect on what went well and how you could improve your focus in the future.

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The Pomodoro Technique - Why It Works & How To Do It

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The Pomodoro Technique is an attention remedy for perfectionists and procrastinators of all kinds. Work in focused intervals. Take a break. Repeat. Learn more..

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"A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure."

- Cal Newport, Author of Deep Work

If there's one thing that can be said about the modern workplace, it's this: If you don't control your schedule, it will control you.

How do you balance the necessary evils of meetings, email, team chat, and "busy work" with focused time for the things you truly care about? Since becoming a digital hermit isn't an option for most of us, we need concrete strategies to help us focus in a world designed to distract us.

That's where time blocking comes in.

Time blocking (and its close cousins, time boxing, task batching, and day theming) is a simple yet effective way to take back control of your time.

Try time blocking if you...

Juggle many different projects/responsibilities (Jack Dorsey used day theming to run two major companies at the same time)

Spend too much time in "reactive mode," responding to emails and messages

Find their day chopped up by meetings

Battle constant interruptions throughout the day

Struggle to find the time and mental space for big-picture thinking

This guide will give you an overview of what time blocking, task batching, and day theming are; how a combination of these strategies can help you reclaim your schedule, and the best way to use your calendar and task manager to start time blocking yourself.

What is time blocking?

Time blocking is a time management method that asks you to divide your day into blocks of time. Each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or group of tasks, and only those specific tasks. Instead of keeping an open-ended to-do list of things you'll get to as you can, you'll start each day with a concrete schedule outlining what you'll work on and when.

The key to this method is prioritizing your task list in advance - a dedicated weekly review is a must. Take stock of what's coming up for the week ahead, and make a rough sketch of your time blocks for each day. At the end of every workday, review any tasks you didn't finish - as well as any new tasks that have come in - and adjust your time blocks for the rest of the week accordingly.

With days that are time blocked in advance, you won't have to constantly make choices about what to focus on. All you need to do is follow your time blocked schedule. If you get off-task or distracted, simply look at your schedule and get back to whichever task you blocked off time for.

Dig deeper

Time blocking variations

Time blocking has a few close but distinct cousins that are worth considering: task batching, day theming, and time boxing.

Time Blocking

Dividing the day into blocks of time with each block dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or activity and only that specific task or activity.

"I will write every day from 9am to 11am."

Task Batching

"I will answer all of my emails at 3pm."

Day Theming

"Every Monday, I will focus on content creation. Every Tuesday, I will focus on content promotion. Every Wednesday, I will focus on research and ideation. Etc."

Time Boxing

"I will write 1,000 words between 9am and 11am tomorrow."

Task batching

Task batching is when you group similar (usually smaller) tasks together and schedule specific time blocks to complete all at once. By tackling similar tasks in a group, you'll limit the amount of context switching you have to do throughout your day, saving precious time and mental energy. For example, scheduling two 20-minute blocks to process email during the day is more efficient than checking your inbox every 15 minutes.

Time blocking pairs well with task batching because it saves you from scheduling every individual task on your calendar. Just block off chunks of time each day or week for when you want to complete a certain batch of activities, e.g., email, invoicing, workouts, meetings, writing, coding, deep work, errands, meal prep.

Day theming

Day theming is a more extreme version of task batching for people who have a lot of areas of responsibility competing for their attention. For example, an entrepreneur often has to pay attention to marketing, sales, product development, customer support, and HR all at the same time. Instead of setting aside time blocks for each area of responsibility each day, day theming dedicates a full day each week to each responsibility.

Mike Vardy, founder of Productivityist, uses day theming to set his overarching focus for each day. Here's how he themes his week:

Dedicating each day to a single theme creates a reliable work pattern and further limits the cognitive load of context switching. Vardy explains that theming offers mental clarity that allows him to focus on his family:

"Knowing what the day 'means' to me allows me to get the things I need and want to accomplish without seeing undetermined 'ought to do' items on a to do list. As a result, I have less decision fatigue and even have more energy when I spend time with my kids."

Time boxing

Time blocking and time boxing are often confused as being synonymous, but there's an important difference. Time blocking asks you to set aside certain chunks of time to focus on a given task or activity. For example, "I will work on a first draft of my blog post from 9am to 11 am tomorrow."

In contrast, time boxing asks you to limit how much time you'll dedicate to a specific task. Here's a time boxed version of the time blocking example above: "I will finish a first draft of my blog post tomorrow between 9am and 11am."

This self-imposed "time box" forces you to work efficiently because you have a limited amount of time in which to complete the task. It can be a fun way to challenge yourself and gamify your productivity.

Why is time blocking so effective?

This technique seems simple on the surface, but has profound impacts on your capacity to get things done:

Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, is a big proponent of time blocking. He dedicates 20 minutes every evening to scheduling out the next work day:

"Sometimes people ask why I bother with such a detailed level of planning. My answer is simple: it generates a massive amount of productivity. A 40 hour time-blocked work week, I estimate, produces the same amount of output as a 60+ hour work week pursued without structure."

When you schedule a chunk of time to work on a single project, problem, or task, you bring all of your mental resources to bear on one thing rather than spreading your attention thin across several tasks. The more you "single task", the more you build the mental muscles required for deep work, and the easier it becomes to stay focused.

It helps you knock out "shallow work" more efficiently

Shallow work is the busy work that's urgent but not important to achieving your long-term goals - think paperwork or responding to (most) emails. When you time box shallow work, you're setting clear limits on how much time you'll dedicate to it. Plus, grouping similar tasks together reduces the cost of context switching. By batching all of your shallow tasks together in a dedicated time block or two, you'll be able to power through them more efficiently and protect the rest of your workday for higher-impact work.

It makes you aware of how you spend your time

Most people are bad at time management. We are terrible at estimating how much time tasks will take, and we have a tendency to overcommit our future selves. Time blocking forces you to confront your current priorities and commitments and get intentional about how you spend your finite time. For each new commitment you let into your life, you're forced to find physical space on your calendar. As a result, the opportunity cost of saying "yes" becomes more concrete, and it becomes much easier to say "no."

It counteracts perfectionism

Fuzzy timelines are a perfectionist's worst enemy. There's always something to be tweaked and improved. It can be difficult to know when an open-ended project is finished, especially if you are aiming for perfection. At some point, you need to be able to say "good enough" and move on. Time boxing can help by imposing time limits on your projects. If you often prolong tasks by trying to get everything just right, set a strict time box for finishing the task and stick to it.

It helps you follow through on your goals

In the article " Beyond good intentions: Prompting people to make plans improves follow-through on important tasks " researchers Dr. Todd Rogers and Dr. Katherine L. Milkman review several studies supporting the idea that "concrete plans help people follow through on their intentions."

From following an exercise regimen to scheduling a flu shot, people were more likely to act on their intentions when they wrote down a specific place, date, and time for the activity. Yet most people rely on vague intentions rather than concrete plans:

"Paradoxically, people frequently underplan when they begin with strong intentions. They mistakenly believe that their strong intentions are enough to propel them to perform desired behaviors, and that belief keeps them from using strategies that could help translate intentions into actions."

The takeaway: When you schedule your tasks and goals, you're more likely to follow through. Time blocking forces you to make concrete plans that ensure you're working toward your goals every day. As William Faulkner famously quipped:

"I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning."

But will time blocking work with my job?

One of the biggest criticisms of time blocking is that it doesn't account for reactive jobs where it's impossible to anticipate what will come in at any given moment. Is time blocking really a realistic strategy for a customer support specialist whose job is to respond to tickets? Or an account manager who needs to be available to respond to client requests?

We'd argue yes - asserting even a small amount of control over your schedule can be helpful no matter your job. Cal Newport put it this way:

"Periods of open-ended reactivity can be blocked off like any other type of obligation. Even if you're blocking most of your day for reactive work, for example, the fact that you're controlling your schedule will allow you to dedicate some small blocks (perhaps at the schedule periphery) to deeper pursuits."

When your workday is run by external forces, it's easy to lose sight of your own goals. Time blocking can help you gain a greater sense of control over even the most unpredictable of schedules.

Some common time blocking missteps and how to avoid them

While time blocking is pretty straightforward in theory, it can be hard to stick to in practice. Here are some tips to help you apply the method successfully (and not become a slave to your calendar in the process):

Underestimating your time

You'll get better at estimating how long tasks take over time, but until you've honed your instincts, err on the side of blocking off too much time for tasks rather than too little. Pad your schedule with extra time to complete and transition between tasks. You can even create "conditional blocks" of time you can tap into if you fall behind.

Try these tools

Being too rigid

Things will come up and ruin your plans. But remember that your plan is a guide to help focus your attention on what's important, not a binding contract.

Even productivity expert Cal Newport edits his plans throughout the day by crossing out original time blocks and filling them with updated plans as circumstances demand:

Newport deals with changes in his schedule by seeing it as a game:

"This type of planning, to me, is like a chess game, with blocks of work getting spread and sorted in such a way that projects big and small all seem to click into completion with (just enough) time to spare."

See your time blocks as a flexible way to challenge yourself, not strict tools to punish yourself when you fall short.

Overscheduling your leisure time

Though Elon Musk and Bill Gates have been said to schedule their days down to 5-minute increments, overscheduling your leisure time can be a self-defeating exercise. Studies have shown that scheduling leisure activities has a "unique dampening effect" on the overall enjoyment of the activity.

Instead, you can block out time to disconnect and relax without a set plan for how you'll spend that time. It will give you the flexibility to decide more spontaneously what you want to do-- call friends to grab a drink? Check out that new Xbox game? Read? Whatever you decide, just remember to keep at least some of your free time free.

Time blocking with Todoist

You can implement time blocking with any tool, but in this section, we'll focus on how to use Todoist alongside your favorite calendar app - or even good, old-fashioned pen and paper. We'll cover how to implement three different time blocking variations: task batching, day theming, and scheduling individual tasks.

Task batching variation

Strict time blocking - dedicating a time block to each individual task - can be tedious and hard to maintain over time. We recommend combining time blocking and task batching for a more streamlined system. Instead of one time block per individual task, you'll assign a time block for each category of task you batch together. Here's how that looks in practice:

First, decide on which broad categories of work need to be reflected in your daily or weekly schedule. For example, a freelance writer might have the following category list:

Now, sit down with your favorite calendar app or paper planner and create time blocks for the coming week that reflect the times you'll work on each category. Make sure all of your priorities and commitments are given enough space on your calendar. If you struggle to find room, you may need to start cutting down on your commitments. The end result will look something like this:

If you find it difficult to stick to your digital schedule, we recommend planning your day out on paper. A paper schedule forces you to start fresh each day and makes it easy to scribble things out and adapt as the day goes on. Plus, it's also easier to keep your paper schedule open on your desk as a visible reminder of what you had planned to focus on.

If you work at a company with shared calendars, you may find it helpful to publicly block off time for "Deep Work" to keep a sufficient chunk of the day meeting free. Khoi Vinh, a Principal Designer at Adobe, uses this strategy at his office:

"I look for blocks of time on my calendar that I can cordon off for "deep work". Sometimes I'll move around meetings to create longer contiguous blocks, and then I'll create a meeting called "Do Not Book" or, if I suspect someone will ignore that, I'll name it something like "Collaboration Session" or "Research Review." You have to get crafty."

You now have time blocks for each category, but you still need to know which specific task - or group of tasks - to work on when the time comes. That's where a task manager like Todoist comes in.

Create a Todoist label for each batched category you came up with in step one, then review all of your current tasks and assign the appropriate label to each one.

Now, when you come to a time block, all you have to do is pull up the corresponding label list and choose from the relevant tasks. Tasks with dates will automatically be sorted at the top so you'll know when something is due soon and needs your attention first.

Todoist Tip

To make sure nothing slips through the cracks, every task should have a label. However, you'll likely find that not every category needs to be tracked in Todoist. For example, you may want to keep track of your meetings or exercise classes in your calendar rather than in your task manager. And as we said before, you don't want to overprogram your free time. Experiment with your setup to figure out what makes sense for your specific circumstances.

Day theming variation

If you try time blocking and still feel too scattered and unfocused, you may want to try out day theming. We recommend this free Skillshare course by Mike Vardy. He walks you through setting up a day theming system, including detailed examples using both paper and Todoist.

Scheduling time blocks for individual tasks

Of course, if you want to keep a more granular schedule, you can always create separate time blocks for each task. The easiest way to do that with Todoist is via the 2-way integration with Google Calendar.

When setting up the integration:

Create a new calendar for just your Todoist tasks so you can toggle them on and off inside your calendar as you need.

Choose to sync your entire Todoist account or create separate calendars for each of your Todoist projects.

Choose to sync tasks with just a due date in addition to tasks with a due date and time.

Any Todoist task with a date and time will automatically appear as an event in your new Todoist calendar. Any task with a date but no time will appear as a day-long event.

During your weekly review, give each task you want to accomplish a date and/or start time by typing something like "Monday at noon" or "Every Friday at 9am" into the task field. Todoist will automatically recognize and highlight the date and set it when you save the task.

Now, when you open your daily or weekly view in your calendar, you'll see each of your tasks scheduled as separate events (aka your time blocks). You can extend, shorten, edit, and move your time blocks inside your calendar. Any changes you make in Google Calendar will automatically sync back to your Todoist (and vice versa).

Scheduling your days and weeks in advance can seem like a waste of precious time you could be using to actually get things done. But when you aren't controlling your calendar, it's easy to let distractions take over. By front-loading your decision-making on what to work on for the day or week, you'll be saving time and mental energy when it comes to actually getting to work.

Give time blocking and task batching a try for a week and see how it feels to take back control over your time and attention.

Todoist Tip

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Everything you need to know to take back your workday from meetings, email, & busy work and protect time for what's truly important to you.

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"Most people overestimate what they can get done in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade."

This famous piece of wisdom (most commonly attributed to Bill Gates) holds true over shorter time spans too. We tend to overestimate what we can get done in a day, but underestimate what we can accomplish in a year.

How do we get around this quirk of human psychology? How do we make consistent progress toward our biggest goals without drowning day-to-day in our overly optimistic to-do lists? How do we overcome the mental resistance that comes with big goals and just get started?

The answer is a deceptively simple and memorably named productivity method called Eat The Frog.

Eat The Frog is perfect for anyone who:

Struggles with procrastination

Gets a lot done but isn't making progress on the important stuff

Has a hard time sticking to a productivity system

Has trouble deciding what to work on at any given time

Feels overwhelmed by their to-do list

What is Eat The Frog?

"If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."

Productivity consultant Brian Tracy named the Eat The Frog method after this vivid piece of advice from Mark Twain. While there's more power and nuance to this method than meets the eye, it all boils down to this: Identify one important task for the day and do it first.

At this point, you may be thinking "ONE TASK? ARE YOU INSANE? I HAVE DOZENS OF THINGS I HAVE TO GET DONE EVERY DAY. I CAN'T POSSIBLY DO JUST ONE THING!"

Bear with me. If you feel pulled in a million directions and overwhelmed by the number of tasks on your plate each day, I'd argue that this method will be even more powerful for you. It's not that you'll kick up your feet and call it a day once you've eaten your one frog. You'll still work on other things, but your most important (often your most difficult task that requires the most energy and focus) will be prioritized first before all those other less-important-but-more-urgent things get in the way. For example, Doist's founder and CEO routinely checks 15-20 tasks off in a day but sets a goal to complete at least one high impact task daily.

Of course, you can always experiment with the exact number of tasks. Agile Results calls for 3 tasks a day, the Ivy Lee method calls for 6. But I'd encourage you to try out the most extreme version first. There's something about the extreme simplicity and hyper-focus of just one task that I've found makes this method particularly effective.

Why Eat The Frog works

Here's why Eat the Frog should be in everyone's productivity arsenal, even if you already use another method like time blocking or the pomodoro technique:

The most valuable work in today's knowledge economy is almost invariably work that requires all your mental resources to be focused on one thing - think cognitively demanding tasks like coding, designing, writing, strategizing, and problem-solving. Yet the modern workplace isn't set up to support that kind of distraction-free " deep work " (a phrase coined by computer science professor Cal Newport). We're distracted by so many emails, meetings, chat messages and requests for input that we don't have the time or space to focus on our highest impact tasks.

Eat The Frog requires us to push back against all of those distractions - both external (others interrupting us) and internal (us interrupting ourselves) - and prioritize the actions that will actually bring us closer to our goals.

It ensures you're setting your own agenda

All too often, the first thing we do when we sit down to work is check our email and incoming messages. Email and instant messaging tools put you in reactive mode - as soon as you start responding, you've ceded your time and attention to what other people want or need you to do. This kind of reactive prioritization can quickly take over your workday. In contrast, Eat The Frog asks you to put your agenda first before any other requests come in to derail your day.

It sets you up to win

Like we talked about at the start of this guide, it's human nature to overestimate what we can get done in a day, even when we know we're likely to overestimate. That's why productivity systems often end up making us feel like we're constantly behind and failing to keep up. When we feel bad we're more likely avoid what's making us feel bad in favor of things that boost our mood in the moment (i.e. procrastination).

In contrast, Eat The Frog forces you to focus on less, even when you know you can do more. Any day that you eat your frog is a good day. Furthermore, following the method means you'll be making progress on something meaningful on a daily basis. Studies have shown that that kind of progress is a key motivator and predictor of happiness and engagement at work, and can lead to a virtuous cycle of getting things done. We feel good when we follow through on the things we intended to do which in turn makes it easier to continue doing them. When you experience a win first thing in the morning, you're more likely to build momentum and good vibes to carry you through the rest of your workday.

It takes full advantage of your best work hours

We all know intuitively that not all work hours are created equal. The first hour of the morning when your energy and willpower are high is a helluva lot more productive than the hour after lunch when all you want to do is curl up and take a nap. Eat the Frog ensures that you're using your best hours to do your most mentally taxing work and leaves less important tasks for times when you've already exhausted your brain power for the day.

It's dead simple and infinitely flexible

While there are benefits to more complex and all-encompassing methods like Getting Things Done, maintaining them can often become just another task on your to-do list that you're not getting to. Eat The Frog is a simple method anyone can fall back on at any time with very little time or mental resources required. And it's almost universally applicable. No matter your job, goals, or circumstances, we all have to contend with our limited time and energy. Eat The Frog is a simple, yet effective way to ensure that you're making progress on something meaningful each and every day.

Tips for eating your frogs

Eat The Frog is simple and straightforward, but there are a few tips that will help you apply the method consistently and successfully:

1. Decide on your frog

Also known as your Most Important Task (MIT). This task is often important but not urgent, the type of difficult task that creates a lot of mental resistance and ensuing procrastination if you don't intentionally make time for it. You probably already know the task I'm talking about.

2. Pick something you'll be able to complete in 1-4 hours

Your frog should take half a day's work, tops. A clearly defined, realistic task will make it easier to get started and not procrastinate on. Checking it off your list before lunch will give you a concrete win and accompanying endorphin boost to carry you into the rest of your day.

3. Break it down into smaller steps if needed

If your frog is going to take more than half a day, break it down into smaller steps that will take 4 hours or less. The next concrete action on that list is your new frog. For example, in order to complete the task "Create a business plan", your frog for today might be "Complete competitive market research".

Todoist Tip

4. Resist the temptation to plan ahead

Once you start breaking your big tasks down, you may be tempted to schedule out your frogs for the whole week or several weeks to come. Don't do it! Accurately forecasting tasks into the future is nearly impossible and will only set you up for getting behind quickly. One of the benefits of Eat The Frog is that you get to start fresh with a singular focus each morning. Identify and tackle your frogs one day at a time.

5. Prepare your frog the night before

Ok, so you should plan a little bit ahead. The night before, you're close enough to be able to plan accurately, but still far enough removed from actually having to do it for too much mental resistance to kick in.

Lifehacker founder and serial entrepreneur Gina Trapani recommends getting everything you need to get started on tomorrow's frog set up before you leave work at the end of the day. For example, today my frog was to finish the first draft of this guide. Yesterday before closing my computer at the end of the workday, I closed out all of my other tabs and apps but left my research and outline Word document open in full-screen "Focus" mode so it was the first and only thing I saw when I sat down to work this morning.

It's not a fool-proof method of staying on track, but it does provide a powerful reminder of what you're supposed to be working on and decreases the chances you'll get distracted looking for the right app, email, document, website, or whatever else you need to get started.

6. Eat your frog first thing

Whatever your frog for the day happens to be, do it first thing when you sit down to work. If at all possible, don't schedule meetings. Don't catch up on Twitter. Don't check your email. Don't even think about thinking about all the other less important things you'll have to do later in the day. Focus all of your mental energy on your frog and only your frog.

Not a morning person? Don't throw the tadpole out with the swamp water. The same principles of hyper-prioritization can be applied to any time of day that you feel the most energized, focused, and productive. The point is to take full advantage of your best work hours, whether that's 8am or 8pm. When that time comes around each day, do your most important task first.

How to eat your frogs with Todoist

As with most workflows, there are multiple ways you can set them up with Todoist. For Eat The Frog, we recommend one of two approaches: priority levels or labels.

Using priority levels

The easiest way to set up Eat The Frog in Todoist is with priority levels. Here's how:

Todoist Tip

Using labels

If you already use priority levels in a different way, you can also use an "@frog 🐸" label to identify your most important task of the day. You can either pin the label directly to your favorites or create a filter with the query "@frog & today" to show you all tasks labeled @frog that are due today.

When it comes to productivity methods, it's tempting to go for the more complex workflows and overlook the simple ones. However, the most effective methods are the ones we can stick to when we're low on energy and fall back on when we find ourselves reverting to bad habits.

Whether you're looking to overcome procrastination or bring more focus and intention to your workday, Eat The Frog is a deceptively simple yet powerful tool to help you get there.

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What Is Eat the Frog? A Dead Simple System for Productivity Minimalists

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"If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning." Eat The Frog is the simplest system to make progress on your most important goals.

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Your connected workspace for wiki, docs & projects | Notion

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A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It's the all-in-one workspace for you and your team.

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Citations

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We are a globally renowned resource that provides assistance with English to students, teachers, professionals, and organizations across the world. Our goal is to assist clients in their development as writers - no matter their skill level.

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Purdue OWL® - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

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We are a globally renowned resource that provides assistance with English to students, teachers, professionals, and organizations across the world. Our goal is to assist clients in their development as writers - no matter their skill level.

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LGBTQ + identity development is a lifelong process. Unlike many other marginalized and/or oppressed populations, most LGBTQ + individuals are not raised in families or community environments that reflect their sexual/gender identities. Thus, mentorship and friendships among "chosen families" of other LGBTQs is often critical to identity and community development.

LGBTQ + identity development can begin at any point in one's life. Regardless of at what age it begins, for most LGBTQ + individuals, the "coming out process" evokes many emotions-some of which can be challenging, confusing, and even frightening. It is also a time in one's life that often is accompanied by feelings of isolation and loneliness. The mentoring relationship provides a safe place for these feelings to be explored.

As LGBTQ + individuals meet life's transitions and milestones, they are often faced with exploring how to integrate their LGBTQ + identity into various new phases in life. Mentors can aid with this exploration. They help mentees challenge internalized negative messages and misinformation proliferated about LGBTQ + people by peers, family, social institutions, and the mass media. Internalized negative and inaccurate messages can take a psychological toll. Mentors can help address this by replacing myths and stereotypes with accurate information. Through this program, LGBTQ + students can receive assistance and encouragement to develop positive and authentic LGBTQ + identities.

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LGBTQ + identity development is a lifelong process. Unlike many other marginalized and/or oppressed populations, most LGBTQ + individuals are not raised in families or community environments that reflect their sexual/gender identities. Thus, mentorship and friendships among "chosen families" of other LGBTQs is often critical to identity and community development.

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Workshop Services | UCI Counseling Center

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Workshops are a great place for students to learn about skills, information, and resources around a variety of topics. Workshops also allow students who may feel isolated, disconnected, or alone to connect with others in a non-clinical setting. Workshops are offered both in-person and virtually via HIPAA compliant zoom.

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5 Tips for Dealing with Lazy Group Project Members - College Info Geek

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Group projects suck... especially when one of your group members isn't pulling their weight. So what do you do in that situation? Discuss this video: https://www.reddit.com/r/collegeinfogeek/comments/45hptr/5_tips_for_dealing_with_lazy_group_project_members/ My book "10 Steps to Earning Awesome Grades" is completely free, so check it out if you're interested in improving your grades!

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Academic Skills, The University of Melbourne

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The Key to Successful Communication at University

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The lone wolf is becoming an endangered species. In fields from health care to hospitality, startups to big business, teamwork has become the favored way to get things done. "The world is so complex, no one person has the skills or knowledge to accomplish all that we want to accomplish," says Susan McDaniel, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center and 2016 APA president known for her dedication to team-based work. "Interdisciplinary teams are the way to make that happen."

While humans have always joined forces with one another to achieve shared goals, psychologists are zeroing in on the methods and processes that make those collaborations more efficient and successful. "What's changing is the understanding and appreciation that there is a science behind how to manage teams," says Suzanne Bell, PhD, an associate professor of industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology at DePaul University in Chicago.

Now, a special issue of American Psychologist (Vol. 73, No. 4, 2018) details what psychologists have learned-and need to learn-about working in teams. "The Science of Teamwork," co-edited by McDaniel and colleague Eduardo Salas, PhD, of Rice University in Houston, in cooperation with American Psychologist editor-in-chief Anne E. Kazak, PhD, offers 21 articles that delve into the theory, research and applications of team science.

Here, we look at some of the most significant findings in the special issue, particularly the ways that team processes matter for psychologists, whether they're working in health care, research, industry, the military or education.

Building a dream team

Sometimes teams seem to click without too much effort, working together seamlessly and producing great work as a result. Other collaborations crash and burn. A team's success often depends on its composition, as Bell and her co-authors describe in their contribution to the special issue.

Surface-level attributes of individual team members-such as age, gender and reputation-can be important to the team's overall function, but they aren't necessarily the factors that matter most, Bell says. Instead, it's the "deep-level" factors you can't see at a glance, such as the members' personality traits, values and abilities, that tend to have a much bigger impact on work teams, studies suggest.

Those deep-level factors shape what researchers call the ABCs of teamwork: the attitudes, behaviors and cognitive states that collectively influence whether a team achieves its goals. Those elements depend to some degree on the context and on the team's objectives, Bell says. If the goal is to design an innovative new digital device, it's a good idea to build a team with diverse thinkers who bring a range of knowledge, skills and abilities to the project. But if a team's goal is to be more efficient, diverse attitudes might be less critical.

Team success also hinges on some basic tenets of team composition, say Bell and her co-authors. One person's mood and outlook can spread within a team, so a pessimistic team member could negatively influence the way the whole group views its goals. Individuals who value working in groups tend to be both more confident and more cooperative in a team setting. When team members are high in conscientiousness, they are better at self-regulating their teamwork. And groups composed of high-ability members who are able to learn, reason, adapt and solve problems are more likely to work well together.

Researchers are working to design algorithms that help organizations create effective teams for specific goals. In a project with NASA, for instance, Bell and colleagues are developing algorithms to identify crew members suited to working together on long-distance space missions.

Ultimately, such tools can help organizations create the best possible teams from the outset and tailor interventions for the unique needs of a team with a specific composition. "Teams are complex systems," Bell says. "The more you can manage them using a scientific basis, the better your teams will be."

The secret sauce: Cooperation in the military

Using scientific methods to understand teams isn't a new trend. Military researchers have been studying teamwork systematically for more than half a century, as Gerald F. Goodwin, PhD, of the U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, and colleagues describe in an article in the special issue. "The military has been really central in supporting and executing research on teams since the 1950s," he says. "That support has been critical to moving this science forward."

Research on military teams has led to several core ideas that inform our understanding of team processes in both military and civilian settings, Goodwin says. One such idea is the distinction between taskwork and teamwork. Taskwork is the work that teams must do to complete a mission or assignment. Teamwork, by contrast, is the interrelated thoughts, feelings and behaviors of team members-comparable to the ABCs-that enable them to work effectively together.

That distinction might seem obvious, says Goodwin, but understanding the elements that allow teams to function well-team cohesion and shared mental models, for example-is important for training teams as well as evaluating their performance. "How well people work together may be more important than how well they work on the tasks," he says. "The secret sauce comes from the teamwork."

Research from military settings has also clarified the importance of team cognition-what teams think, how they think together and how well synchronized their beliefs and perceptions are. Team cognition is what allows team members to understand intuitively how their teammates will think and act, whether on the battlefield, in a surgical suite or on a basketball court. "Team cognition is really important for teams that have to quickly adapt to dynamic circumstances without having the opportunity to communicate a lot," Goodwin says.

Many of the empirical findings from military research apply to civilian teams as well. From the earliest studies, military and civilian researchers have openly shared findings and worked together to grow the science of teamwork, Goodwin says. The military, for instance, has made use of results from team research in aviation. Meanwhile, findings from military-funded research have informed processes in many industries, health care in particular.

Teaming up for better health

Teams in the military and in health care share an important commonality: They can be operating in situations in which team coordination can be a matter of life or death. Some of the earlier research on health-care teams focused on hospital settings, where teamwork failures can lead to patient harms such as misdiagnoses, medication mistakes, surgical errors and hospital-acquired infections. In a paper for the special issue, Michael Rosen, PhD, an associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues describe how medical team coordination affects patient safety and the quality of patient care.

Unlike teams in a business setting that might collaborate with one another for months at a time, health-care teams are often fluid, especially in hospitals. Medical personnel including physicians, nurses, surgical assistants and pharmacists might have to jump into a new care team at each shift change or for each new patient. The fundamentals of good collaboration are the same no matter how transient the team, Rosen says: "It's about having clear roles, clear goals and a clear plan of care."

Hospitals can also put procedures in place to boost the effectiveness of acute-care teams. One example is multidisciplinary rounds. Instead of a cardiologist, a surgeon and a pharmacist each visiting a patient individually, the physicians, nurses and other medical professionals might team up to consult with the patient together. Multidisciplinary rounds have been shown to improve communication between physicians and nurses, decrease length of stay for trauma patients, and improve quality measures for patients with congestive heart failure and pneumonia, Rosen and his co-authors note.

Teams are also becoming increasingly important in primary-care settings. "I think the industry is recognizing that we don't have a choice. Health care has become too complex, and the current model isn't working very well," says Kevin Fiscella, MD, a professor of family medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center who co-authored a special issue article with McDaniel on the science of primary-care teams. "It's not a question of whether we adopt teamwork [in primary care], but how we do it-and how we begin addressing the barriers to teams."

Unfortunately, those barriers are not insignificant, Fiscella adds. One challenge is simply changing the way that many physicians think about primary care. "I graduated from medical school in 1980, and our whole training was that care is about me and the patient, and everybody else is there to support that relationship," he says. While that mentality is changing, it's not dead yet. "That unfortunate mental model of what it means to provide primary care can make it difficult" to move toward team thinking, he adds.

Systemic challenges also make collaboration difficult in primary-care settings. Clinicians such as family physicians, specialists and mental health professionals might be spread out in different locations. "It makes it harder to support other team members who are making important contributions," Fiscella says.

The traditional fee-for-service payment model also makes it difficult for medical professionals to prioritize teamwork, Fiscella and McDaniel add. Research has shown, for example, that when primary-care teams have short "huddles" before a visit to coordinate their care plans, they routinely report better teamwork and more supportive practice climates. Similarly, short team debriefings at the end of the day to hash out what worked and what didn't can boost learning and performance among team members and improve outcomes for patients.

Yet due to scheduling challenges, it can be tough for primary-care teams to find even a few minutes to come together for huddles or debriefings. "Time is money. If you take time out for a team meeting, that's lost revenue," Fiscella says.

Teamwork in the lab

Academia is famous for its departmental silos, but that, too, is changing as multidisciplinary research becomes the norm across all fields of science. Team science is gaining momentum for good reason, says Kara Hall, PhD, director of the Science of Team Science Team at the National Cancer Institute and co-author of a special issue article about collaboration in science.

Globalization and technology have made the pressing problems of society ever more complex, Hall says. Take the public health problem of reducing tobacco use, for instance. To address that challenge, you need an understanding of the genetic, neural, psychological and behavioral factors related to tobacco dependence, not to mention related social forces and the public policy context. "If you want to solve an applied global health problem, you need people who can bring their specialized knowledge to bear," she says. "Multidisciplinary teams can really [create] movement on these big problems."

Research on team science has found that collaborating across organizational and geographic boundaries increases productivity and scientific impact. And cross-disciplinary teams produce more academic publications and publish in more diverse outlets, Hall and her colleagues report.

Despite proven benefits, it can be hard for a researcher to wrap his or her head around team science. Most scientists were trained in an apprenticeship model, learning the ropes from a single mentor. "Historically, our scientists haven't been trained to work in teams or to lead teams," Hall says.

Even if scientists are prepared to take the leap to team-based research, their institutions might not be. Tenure and promotion are usually based on outputs such as academic publications, with more weight given to a paper's lead author and to articles published in journals in a researcher's own discipline. That model rewards competition, with the potential for tension as team members hash out who should be credited as first author. Team science is built instead on interdisciplinary cooperation-but so far, only a few academic institutions reward those cooperative efforts.

Because of the lack of team training and the institutional hurdles, Hall says, a research project may be technically and scientifically well-conceived yet fail to yield anticipated outcomes. If a cross-disciplinary team fails to meet its goals, was it because the topic was better suited to intradisciplinary science? Was it a problem with the way the team was composed? Or could the team have succeeded if members had received more institutional support and training?

Still, some early patterns are emerging to guide the way toward improved science teams, Hall and her co-authors report. Some studies have found that small teams are best for generating ideas that shake up the status quo, for instance, while larger teams are better at further developing those big ideas. And while cultural diversity can increase a science team's impact, diverse teams might benefit from more team science principles to head off challenges such as miscommunication.

Multicutural questions

The role of diversity in teamwork is a topic that needs a lot more attention, not just for scientific teams but in all areas of teamwork, says Jennifer Feitosa, PhD, an assistant professor of I/O psychology at the City University of New York, Brooklyn College. In the special issue, Feitosa and her co-authors describe the ways in which multicultural teams may function differently from teams in which all members share the same cultural background.

As with cross-disciplinary science teams, multicultural teams offer key benefits. "Companies are seeking innovation and creativity," Feitosa says. "One of the pros of having team members from different cultures is that they can each bring in something unique, which can result in a better team product than any one person could have thought about on their own," she says.

Yet it can take longer for a diverse team to find its groove than a team with similar backgrounds and mindsets. Individuals in multicultural teams are more likely to have different ways of doing things and might not understand where their fellow team members are coming from. "If you take a snapshot of a multicultural team at the beginning, it doesn't look so promising. They often need more time to all get on the same page," Feitosa says.

In both multicultural teams and more homogenous teams, trust is a key component for effective collaboration, Feitosa and her colleagues reported. But because of their differences, members of multicultural teams might have difficulty trusting each other at first.

"Focusing on shared goals can really help to develop that trust," she says.

In other ways, diverse teams operate quite differently from teams with cultural similarities. In the general teamwork literature, for example, research suggests that it's important to address and manage team conflict head-on. But when team members come from cultures that emphasize harmony and avoid conflict, calling out the elephant in the room can make people extremely uncomfortable and interfere with the teamwork dynamic, Feitosa says.

Differences in leadership style can also hinder multicultural teams. In North America, organizations are moving toward giving individuals greater autonomy and opportunities for self-management, Feitosa notes. "In very collectivistic and high power-distance cultures, people might rely more heavily on direction from team leaders and might rather be told what to do."

Fortunately, teams can prevent cultural differences from becoming obstacles by creating a "hybrid" culture, the authors report. "It's about establishing team norms that aren't entirely your culture or entirely my culture, but a little bit of everyone's," Feitosa says.

The research on multicultural teams can guide those looking to create collaborations that are both diverse and high-functioning. But to fully harness the value of cross-cultural perspectives and talents, Feitosa and her colleagues conclude, much more needs to be done to integrate findings from research on single-culture teams and multicultural teams. "Teamwork is a complex phenomenon, so we need to get more creative in how we look at this," she says.

Intervening to improve teamwork

Although researchers have more work to do to fully understand team processes, especially in multicultural contexts, it's not too early to apply what we know, Salas says. For the special issue, Salas and colleagues described evidence-based approaches for improving teamwork.

Organizations are clamoring for tools to make their teams more effective. "Team building is probably the No. 1 human resources intervention in the world," Salas says. Yet the results of such programs are mixed. If you send a group of executives into the wilderness for two days, they might have fun and learn something about one another-but it doesn't mean they'll magically develop new teamwork skills.

Put them into evidence-based team trainings, however, and the story is different. "Team training works," Salas says. "We know how to design, develop and evaluate it."

In particular, Salas and his colleagues describe four types of team development interventions that have been shown to benefit team performance: team training, team building, leadership training and debriefing.

Team training describes formalized learning experiences that aim to improve specific team skills or competencies. Structured team training has been shown to improve teamwork functioning and outcomes in industries such as education, engineering and health care. A prime example is TeamSTEPPS, an intervention to reduce medical errors by improving communication and teamwork skills among health-care professionals (see sidebar). Team-building interventions, meanwhile, aim to better teams by improving interpersonal relationships, clarifying roles and improving problem-solving. Such interventions might focus on increasing trust or setting challenging yet specific goals, for example. Leadership training targets a team leader's knowledge, skills and abilities, and improvements to these areas have been shown to support effective overall team processes. When leaders are trained in occupational safety, for instance, their teams exhibit safer behaviors on the job. Finally, team debriefings of the sort used in primary-care settings have been shown to improve performance in a variety of settings, including aviation and military teams.

There's power in numbers, and high-performing teams can be more than the sum of their parts. It's fortunate, then, that teamwork processes can be measured and improved with targeted interventions. But to keep sharpening the science, psychologists must continue exploring the conditions that allow teams to succeed, Salas says.

There's certainly no shortage of demand, he adds. "There's a tremendous amount of interest in trying to understand collaboration and teamwork-in health care, aviation, academia, the military, space exploration, the corporate world. I hope this special issue will inspire people to improve their teams, and to look for new ways of motivating their teams using psychological science."

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psychologists are pinpointing the factors that make teams gel-research that has far-reaching implications for health care

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The lone wolf is becoming an endangered species. In fields from health care to hospitality, startups to big business, teamwork has become the favored way to get things done.

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Teamwork skills are the skills you draw upon when you are working with others, like communication, collaboration, and negotiation. These skills can be helpful in any type of partnership, whether it's in your personal or professional life. Plus, employers are particularly keen to hire job candidates with strong teamwork skills.

According to a survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), teamwork skills are among the top attributes employers seek on resumes [ 1]. Additionally, the ability to work with others is a common theme across several of the top skills of 2023 identified in the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report [ 2].

In this article, we'll explore some impactful teamwork skills and offer tips for enhancing yours.

What are teamwork skills?

There are many ways to be a team player, all of which relate to your ability and willingness to effectively work with others. Teamwork skills are often considered workplace skills, or soft skills. These skills are more about the way you work and less about the actual work you do.

Teamwork is essential in the workplace, but it's equally important outside of work. Sharing the load can increase emotional support and reduce burnout in your professional and personal life.

Let's take a closer look at some examples of teamwork skills. Keep in mind that although you may use some of these skills individually, a strong collaborator will likely employ several of these skills simultaneously.

Communication

Communication skills have to do with conveying thoughts and information in a clear way, both verbally and nonverbally. In order to work well with others, it's important to be able to communicate effectively, whether you're ideating, planning, or presenting your team's work.

Learn more: What Is Effective Communication? Skills for Work, School, and Life

Listening

Listening skills go hand-in-hand with communication skills. In order to build rapport with your teammates, you need to be able to both receive insights from others and offer your own thoughts. Active listening is the ability to focus on what other people are saying, home in on their message and tone, and react with empathy.

Watch this video from the University of Pennsylvania to learn how to strengthen your active listening skills:

Time management

Time management skills are about remaining organized, prioritizing, and delegating tasks to reach your goals in a timely fashion. With strong time management skills, you can show that you are a reliable teammate while also reducing your own stress around deadlines.

Learn more: What Is Time Management? 6 Strategies to Better Manage Your Time

Problem-solving

Problem-solving skills involve using critical thinking or creativity to deal with challenges and navigate risks that may arise as you work toward your team goals. To be an effective problem-solver, you typically need to be able to analyze a situation, assess potential solutions, and determine your best path forward.

Negotiation

Negotiation skills are about finding common ground in disagreement and working toward a satisfying solution. When you're working on a team, the ability to balance different perspectives can help maintain a peaceful work environment, empower your teammates to bring their ideas forward, and enable everyone to discover the best possible solutions for your goals.

Collaboration

Collaboration skills have to do with your ability to use all of your teamwork skills at the same time. Some ways to be a good collaborator are to contribute productively, communicate as well as you listen, and show that you are a reliable and fair teammate. With collaboration, you can build strong relationships, work through conflicts, develop trust, and effectively work toward your common goal.

Why is it important to improve your teamwork skills?

You will inevitably have to work as part of a team at some point in your life. At work, you may collaborate with others to complete projects. At home, you might work with family or friends to accomplish specific goals. Collaboration is a fundamental part of the human experience and a driving force in your ability to successfully meet your goals and objectives. Honing your teamwork skills can also help you build rapport and deeper relationships with others, add to your resume, and uncover new opportunities.

How does improving teamwork in the workplace help you?

Even if you work independently and complete most of your duties on your own, keeping the organization's goals, objectives, and needs is critical. You must also communicate with leaders and others working in the company to ensure they are aware of your accomplishments and progress. That's a form of teamwork all on its own.

No matter your role, working well with other people is vital to success in the workplace. Improving your teamwork abilities can help set you apart while helping you move the company closer to its goals.

How can you improve teamwork?

Teamwork is among the skills employers often seek in candidates. It's a skill that can benefit you outside the office. It can take time to improve your teamwork skills and teamwork in the workplace as a whole. These steps can help get you moving in the right direction.

Clearly state the team's purpose and goals.

Having goals keeps everything moving forward. Set personal goals to create your own achievable objectives and timelines for achieving them. The team at large should also have goals to keep everyone working toward common objectives. Everyone involved must understand what those goals are, why working together is essential to meeting them, and how each team member can help the team achieve its purpose.

Define team member roles clearly.

The team's structure and size are essential, and everyone should be clear about the structure, their roles, and why they have those tasks. Everyone brings unique strengths to the table, which can create a strong, effective team. Understanding your role helps you use your strengths and motivation for the good of the group. Remember, having defined roles is critical, but so is operating with a team mentality where you and everyone else work toward your shared purpose and goals.

Communicate.

Communication is critical. Both written and oral communication skills facilitate collaboration by allowing you to talk about expectations and progress, write reports and overviews, and talk openly about the team's objectives. Given the recent uptick in remote work and virtual communications, this skill has become even more critical for successful teamwork.

Promote positive mindsets.

Staying positive allows you to adapt to changes and tackle challenges more readily, while helping others remain more engaged too. Positive outlooks typically yield positive output. Conversely, complaining can destroy morale and upset those around you, with productivity often suffering along with your team's mindset.

Use collaboration tools.

Given the number of people working remotely or adopting hybrid (partially in-office and partially remote) work schedules, collaboration tools are arguably more important than ever for keeping teams working cohesively no matter where they are. Tools like instant messaging facilitate quick chats, Microsoft Teams and Zoom help with meetings, and Slack provides a platform with messaging, file transfers, and other features.

Mediate conflict right away.

Left unresolved, small arguments and conflicts can become significant issues that erode trust and team spirit. Effective teamwork relies on prompt conflict management. Remain empathetic and keep the team's shared goals in mind as you navigate the way forward. Avoid placing blame on others or allowing other team members to blame each other in favor of fostering a learning-based team culture.

Be flexible.

Very few things go precisely according to plan. When you work as part of a team, you'll need to effectively adapt to changes and resolve conflicts. Remaining flexible will mitigate any harm to a harmonious group dynamic. This can also help strengthen your relationships, while remaining steadfast despite possible obstacles.

Avoid micromanaging.

Leadership helps foster effective teamwork. It's also a skill you can cultivate while working within a team. However, micromanaging, or trying to control all aspects of the process and your team, can damage relationships and hinder productivity. Micromanaging can also cause mistrust and limit the team's ability to grow. Reflect on your own behavior to remain aware, but also ask for feedback from your team members to get a handle on the type of team member you are.

Celebrate wins.

Instead of focusing on the negatives, celebrating wins builds a positive dynamic and a cohesive team spirit. In addition to rewarding successes and providing recognition for positive performance, sharing others' victories and giving pep talks as needed to keep morale and motivation high is vital.

Develop your teamwork skills

Build your effectiveness at working in groups with Teamwork Skills: Communicating Effectively in Groups from the University of Colorado Boulder on Coursera. Learn to make better decisions, manage conflict, negotiate, and improve communication in virtual environments. Do you lead a team? Enhance your leadership abilities with High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork, and Negotiation from Northwestern.

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Important Teamwork Skills and How to Improve Yours

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Teamwork skills are essential in your professional and personal life. Learn how to improve your teamwork skills and why it matters with this quick guide.