If you have a lot of work to do, a short attention span can be disastrous for your productivity. But instead of fighting it, you can use it to your advantage by working in “sprints” instead of trying to have a marathon session. Like the Pomodoro Technique, the sprint method has you work in a series of shorter bursts so you can get your tasks done without your attention or productivity lagging.

When you use the sprint method, you do short bursts of work with breaks in between. That's all, but because taking breaks is fundamental to being truly productive, it's effective.

While the sprint method, as noted, shares some elements with the popular Pomodoro Method, in which you work in tightly timed bursts interspersed with tightly timed breaks, it is a bit more fluid. With the Pomodoro Method, you work for 25 minutes and then take a five-minute break. After four cycles, you take a longer break. When you do sprints, however, you decide in advance how long you need (or can) concentrate and set your timer accordingly.

The trick to using sprints instead of the more rigid Pomodoro Method is goal setting: you should set a longer-term goal, like finishing a big work project by the end of the week, and sprint to get there, using as many sprints as you need. Each sprint should move you toward a smaller goal, like finishing a portion of the project, and you should time it so that it encompasses exactly the amount of time that smaller goal is likely to take. By adjusting your timing instead of relying on the 25-minute rule, you won’t be interrupted by your timer before you’ve finished the mini-task. You’ll stay in focus mode until the task is complete, fully aware that a break is coming.