Welcome to our series of RoundPie interviews, where we show you the people who use RoundPie and their stories. Our users will tell you...
- how they use RoundPie
- why they track time and use the Pomodoro method
- what kind of results they were able to achieve
Yina Huang, portfolio management software consultant, astrophysics / space nut
What is your name and what do you do?
Hi! My name is Yina.
By day I consult for hedge funds / banks that use our portfolio management software, by night I am an astrophysics / space nut developing content for my blog, @yinadreamsofspace, planning a London wedding, and building out my productivity startup. (Shameless plug here. If you like what you see, feel free to say hi!)
When have you started using RoundPie?
I first discovered RoundPie after having a mini breakdown over brunch with a few of my girlfriends last summer in 2018.
I was feeling extremely stressed and not in control of everything I was working on and felt like I was drowning in what I needed to do. Ended up sobbing into my Eggs Florentine while my friends, waitress and pretty much every other patron in the establishment looked on awkwardly. Not a pretty sight.
I realized my emotional meltdown was a sign that I needed to handle my life better. I needed to manage my TEA (time, energy, attention) and know when to organize / prioritize / delegate tasks as needed.
That's when I went on a research rampage of all the Pomodoro applications out there, testing the experience with each one. I ended up falling in love with RoundPie.
What is the main reason you track your time and use the Pomodoro technique?
I only know how to operate at 17,000mph, I don't know how to slow down. Nor do I want to, to be honest. There's too much to see and do in the world in one lifetime! (Also, fun fact: that's the speed the International Space Station must orbit to prevent orbital decay and falling out of Lower Earth Orbit.)
I want to do too many things: managing relationships with my loved ones, working out and fitness, learn about new things, travel, not to mention a high intensity job, various side projects, day to day errands, you get the idea.
In order to do this, I need to be a BEAST at time management and efficiency.
This means being able to allocate time for everything I need to do in a week, as well as maintaining high focus and resting properly to make sure I can complete tasks on time and managing my mental energy.
How do you most commonly use RoundPie?
I use RoundPie most frequently with my Trello tasks. As such, there is a pretty routine process I’ve established for how RoundPie is used.
ANATOMY OF TRELLO TASK
- If you are currently working on the task, I have a label as 'IN PROGRESS' so we know that it's been started.
- Label of '<20 MIN' or '50 MIN+': This is so I can gauge the accuracy of our time management skills (at a high level). I compare this to number 4, the real time spent on the task, integrated via RoundPie. This also is my way of mentally breaking down the level of effort required for each task and helps me better organize things throughout the week.
- 'DUE DATE' is tagged for each task, so we can see what we are trailing on and what tasks are due next. We sort all our lists by Due Date so we can see what we need to do next.
- Assess whether level of effort lines up with RoundPie timer of amount of time to complete the task.
What kind of results have you achieved by tracking your time?
I manage my time much more effectively and can realistically estimate the level of effort required to complete tasks I've mapped out for the week. At this rate, I routinely complete an average of 30-45 tasks on my weekly to-do list outside of my daily consulting job, with around 15 that are higher effort levels and require over 50+ mins to complete while ensuring I can work out 45-60 minutes 5x a week, maintain a tidy house, and have room left for social engagements and time with my fiancé and loved ones.
This has led to better mental health and reduced stress because I've been able to ramp up my ability to focus and complete designated tasks for the week, as well as a shift in attitude that when I don't complete a task, I have not failed, but rather, it was a misjudgment in level of effort.
What is your favorite RoundPie feature(s)?
- RoundPie integrate with a lot of the other applications I use to manage productivity (check out RoundPie's list of integrations on Zapier)
- RoundPie is the only application I can find in the space that allows me to switch in between tasks during a focus period, which is integral since my to-do list has like six billion tasks a day. More or less.
Yina Huang,
portfolio management software consultant, astrophysics / space nut
New York, NY
If you would like to be featured in this interview series as well, please contact us at info@theroundpie.com, for a chance to show:
- your Pomodoro Technique and RoundPie story about productivity
- your name and photo
- link to your website
Looking forward to your submissions!
What would you like to know and what would be the best way to share this information to you? What is the best tips & tricks, what workaround do you use? We'd really appreciate your insight on these ones to make our integrations better, more productive and much more efficient. Comments, tweets are always welcome.