Coffee Driven Development introduced me to the personal productivity technique Pomodoro and it feels a bit familiar with how I usually work.

Some years ago I started to use Workrave as a break reminder to ease the pains in my hands. At first it was a bit frustrating (to take 5 min breaks every 30 min of keyboarding) but after a while I noticed that it was easier to focus on the tasks. I also noticed that it was easier to solve problems I was stuck with after letting it go for 5 minutes. The stress levels also decreased since you get a natural way to track what you are working with and get rid of the items on your TODO list.

I can’t recommend working in ~30 minutes chunks enough and Workrave works perfect to remind you! If your’e on the Mac AntiRSI is a great tool!