The combination of a slow, hot Friday in August and an excellent interactive Google Doodle can be murder on your productivity.
And Friday’s Doodle, a soccer penalty shoot-out where you play the goalie, was particularly addictive. The balls went faster and faster, so it was hard to beat a high score. Beating a high score suddenly became Very Important.
If hackinthus‘s office is any harbinger of online trends — and let’s face it, it usually is — this is probably going to be among the most addictive, time-sucking, attention-grabbing Doodles in Google history. And it’ll certainly be one of those Doodles.
You know — the ones (such as the Pac-Man Doodle) that cause economists to start speculating about how many hours of productivity that have been lost to the U.S. economy (Pac-Man Doodle was said to have zapped 4.7 billion hours), and how many billions of dollars that represents. Implication: Doodles are hurting America.
Not so. As many productivity experts will tell you, building a good chunk of downtime into your day isn’t just helpful in recharging yourself and your creativity. It’s essential.
Ever tried the Pomodoro technique? It’s a popular productivity tool that has you working on a task for 25 minutes at a time (using a Pomodoro timer, hence the name), then taking a five-minute break. Every third break, make it last 15 minutes.
Don’t cheat the downtime. Don’t try to sneak in a quick phone call or an email. Really use the time to do something not work-related — such as play an interactive Google Doodle.
You don’t need me to tell you why switching off is useful if you’ve read enough of those articles about why we come up with our best ideas in the shower. It’s just the proper care and feeding of your unconscious, left-brain, creative mind — whatever you want to call it.
There are many great apps that automate the Pomodoro technique — and I’d argue an app is essential to giving you the confidence that the timer will go off, and you can enjoy your break guilt-free.
Not only can you focus on work better in 25-minute chunks, you can focus better on beating the high score in your breaks. Win-win.
That’s why economists who calculate lost hours of productivity miss the point. That’s why some of your bosses miss the point. Goofing off keeps your mind fighting fit, if done properly.
The hours that all those breaks add up to could always be thought as hours lost to the economy. But that’s like saying a healthy lunch is an hour you could have spent exercising. Your body needs both.
So I’m glad to see Google coming up with ever-more addictive Doodle games, and that the company puts them front and center on one of the world’s most trafficked pages.
Let’s hope they don’t slow down after the Olympics. They’re a reminder to all of us to stop, smell roses, take a breath, lighten up, enjoy yourself. In today’s never-stop culture, you need as many reminders not to burn out as you can get.
I like to think Google is subtly spreading its concept of 80% time — which is kind of its version of the Pomodoro technique. Every employee has to take 20% of the time to work on their own projects, or do whatever they want.
It is on 20% time, no doubt, that many a Google Doodle was thought up. And that’s the other value of goofing off — what you build, almost by accident, in that time can often be more creative than what you were working on anyway.
Do you put structured goofing-off time in your day? Let us know in the comments.
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