The real value of productivity hacks

The power of pausing, and other life lessons from drawing little squares

Illustration: Léo Hamelin

The back of my notebook is filled with alternating black squares. The pages are dotted, so if I connect four dots with four lines and colour them in, I get a little square. Leave one blank and repeat.

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for some time now, you’ll know how much I love the Pomodoro Technique. The simple productiv…