Many people have a hard time finishing a task or project. The main reason why they struggle is that they try to do too much or finish it all at once. This leads to cognitive overload and can cause procrastination.
A simple and effective technique is to try to break down a project or task into small parts and finish those small parts one at a time. There is a technique called the Pomodoro Technique which helps you stay focused on the task at hand. You basically focus on completing 1 item for a period of time say 25 minutes. During those 25 minutes you just focus on that one item and block all other distractions. After those 25 minutes are up you take a 5 minute break.
After completing 4 x 25 minute blocks or pomodori you get to take a 15 minute break. You will find that by using the Pomodoro Technique you can conquer any project by honing in on your ability to break it up into small parts and conquer each of those small parts by staying focused; it really leverages the power of focus
Kanbanflow is an awesome web application that effectively implements the pomodoro technique and allows you break down your project / task into smaller pieces. We use it here at Invoiced to stay focused on the task at hand. It also has a handy timer that allows you to keep track of when you need to focus and you can also set deadlines for specific tasks.
Let's go through a quick tutorial on using Kanbanflow.
Here is an empty Kanban board.
Now lets add a task, such writing this blog post.
Now lets add a due date.
Eventually my board might now look like this.
Now let start writing our blog post and start our Pomodoro Timer.
You can see a graph of your pomodoros.
and also print reports
and even has a fun social gaming aspect in which you can see how you rank