Things to Read While Pretending to Work – Nov. 26, 2015

Things to Read While Pretending to Work is a weekly column compiling interesting and useful articles from across the interwebs.

It's designed to be a mental break from work, while also giving you some tangible, actionable advice that will make your life better.

I'll follow the same format each week -- one article loosely aligned to three categories: WORK, LIFE, and FITNESS.

As always, please let me know your requests and suggestions by replying to this email.  Which link is your favorite?  What do you want more or less of? Let me know!

Work

Your Custom Productivity Timer -- This link is for an online timer called MarinaraTimer. It is designed to work with The Pomodoro Technique, which is by far the most effective productivity method I've ever tried. I use it every time I work, including during my all-nighter experiment.

If you've never heard of The Pomodoro Technique, here's the "official" website with more info: http://pomodorotechnique.com/.

I like the MarinaraTimer because it tracks the complete history of your work / break cycles.  At the end of the day you can look back and see how much real work you've actually done.

Life

Life Pro Tip: How to give a quick, impromptu speech or toast! -- Have you ever heard a perfect wedding toast? It's delivered with eloquence, sincerity, emotion, and confidence. Contrast that with the usual speeches you hear: rambling, unstructured, unfunny, and going on way too long.

Some people have a natural talent of public speaking, but for the rest of us we need help. This article contains a simple 5-step template for confidently delivering impromptu speeches and toasts.

Fitness

The busy man's guide to getting in shape -- "Even if you’re a busy guy, you can drop fat, get healthy, and get into the best shape of your life. All you need is a simplified exercise plan, a progressive set of nutrition habits, and a knowledgeable coach to help guide the process."

This is an article from Precision Nutrition, the largest private nutrition coaching company in the world.

My favourite advice from the article is this: Think Less, Do More. I have a history of over complicating my nutrition and workouts, but there's no need. Setup a basic plan, do it consistently, and save your time and energy for more important things in life.

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Is this post useful? What do you want to learn about next week? Let me know in the comments.

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Alistair Clark is a former management consultant that runs worklifefitness.co.
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