Considering yesterday’s post, I think today has been ridiculously productive so far. I’ve been in my office but with my door shut, my headphones on, and I’ve had my email closed most of the day. Head down and working in 25 minute chunks, I’ve made more progress on a short piece I’ve been working on today than I have in months.

I highlight the 25 minute chunks specifically because of the Pomodoro Technique. It’s a productivity technique balancing spurts of work with short and longer breaks. There are any number of “pomodoro” times out there, I’m using this one today. I’ve ordered a pile of books and articles for a current project and have managed to not lose my entire day to the distractions that usually crop up.

After I finish this post–which I’m considering one of my long breaks [yeah, I know, I should be standing up and moving around]–I’m going to read the Shieber Interview. That’s something else that’s been sitting on my

If you’re not familiar, Richard Poynder, a journalist, has a series of OA interviews published on his blog. I’ve seen references to the interview with Stuart Shieber from Harvard all over the place but I’ve never had a chance to sit down and wade through all 37 pages. So I’m giving myself permission today to read it all the way through. Not to carry it back and forth on the train for a while, it’s on my desk and when my 25 minute time goes off I’ll get up to stretch but then I’ll go back to reading. Email will continue to keep.

Getting some writing and reading in today, my colleagues aren’t going to recognize me. Of course, tomorrow is back to back meetings, but hey–I got one day.