Leaving things till the last minute can be stressful

We actually went on Quora to ask "why people leave things till the last minute" - yes, don’t say we don’t do our research!

Got interesting answers. Some said it's because of a lack of motivation, while others have anxiety or get overwhelmed. The general gist - we procrastinate when we don’t really want to do it.

Now, in business there’s just some stuff you can’t avoid. Whether you want to or not, whether you have the skills or not. So - the million dollar question - How to get on with clearing that to-do list?

In our quest to save you the hassle, we stumbled across the Pomodoro technique. (Pomodoro is Italian for tomato, who knew? And tomatoes are red, and make sauce... ok enough). It’s based on timing. Think of your tasks as Pomodoros. The goal is to split your to-do list into Pomodoros and add breaks between them. Let me show you how it works;

1. Pick a task from your to-do list

2. Set a 25 minute timer

3. Work on your task till your timer is up

4. Reward yourself with a 5 min break

5. For every 4 Pomodoro completed, reward yourself with longer breaks (15-30 mins)

This technique essentially makes it easy to get started and helps to combat distractions. Now you must be wondering, how does this apply to me?

Scenario

Let’s say Mark, a farmer from Taranaki, has been moving farms on moving day for a few years now. He knows how stressful the day can be and wants to take care of payroll earlier this time around. He also knows that Moving day falls on Wednesday (June 1st, 2022) which coincides with payday for his employees. What he might want to consider is:

• To close off payments earlier during payday or;

• File payday earlier that week

Mark decides to file pays earlier on Monday (May 30th, 2022). He must file employment information electronically within 2 working days of payday to avoid a penalty. (If you’re doing payday filing using paper, this may differ - check out the IRD’s website for the timeframe required to file employee information).

How we would apply the Pomodoro technique in Mark’s case

Objective: To make a to-do list for payday filling and tackle each task as a Pomodoro.

The to-do list for Mark to tackle on Monday:

Each task/Pomodoro may take more than 25 mins depending on the complexity and number of employees you employ. So Mark might split the tasks further, as the crux of the Pomodoro Technique is to keep it simple.

How you can use PaySauce to suss your Payday filing

The benefit of having your payday filing done with a cloud based payroll provider like PaySauce? You’ll save heaps of time, stay compliant and efficient. We did the math and broke down 4 big ways you can save time on payroll.

If you’re a farmer and are considering a cloud based payroll provider, read more about how PaySauce can benefit you.

If you’re already a customer, we’ve compiled step by step guides on how to perform tasks like running a pay, adding & terminating employees which can be found in our knowledge base. Still have questions that need a human touch? Contact our support team.

Other Helpful Links

Moving Day 2022 resources compiled by Dairy Women’s Network

Moving Day resources from DairyNZ