According to the folks at  MakeUseOf, “The time has come where we all make promises to ourselves that we’ll be better, harder, faster, and stronger by the end of 2014. Twelve months is a long time, though, and it can be easy to lose steam over such a long period. What can you do about it? Our approach: break the year down into months and dedicate each month to a particular change. This method lets you internalize one change at a time before moving onto the next one. Front loading all of your resolutions together is just a recipe for being overwhelmed. A common resolution for most working people is to be more productive. If you do it right, by the end of the year you’ll be doing more work in less time!” Credit for the content of these monthly posts goes to Joel Lee, MakeUseOf.

March’s Bad Habit: Working Too Long

“There are two forms of working too long: 1) working so much that it detracts from your rest and recreation and 2) working over long stretches of time without any breaks. For the most part, there’s nothing you can do about the former since your job is your job, but there’s a lot you can do about the latter.

Solution: Ever heard of the Pomodoro Technique? Essentially, you divide the work day into 30-minute chunks: 25 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of break. You can personalize it to your own needs (e.g. 45 minutes of work and 15 minutes of break). The point is that you’ll be more productive working in short bursts than long crawls.”

Note: Please consider whether your employer is onboard with this technique before you drastically change your work habits!

This excerpt is from 12 Productivity Habits To Finally Hack Your Life In The New Year by Joel Lee, MakeUseOf, Jan.1, 2014