Whether you’re working in an office, settling into that WFH life, freelancing, or just trying to get shit done in your life, maintaining focus and motivation can be a struggle. Email, phone notifications, Slack, and zillions of other distractions are literally designed to steal our attention, making it seem impossible to concentrate and actually get the task at hand done.
What’s a modern worker to do?
Well, there’s a thousand and one productivity techniques out there—which means that there’s likely one that will work for you. But who has time to try them all and evaluate?
Thankfully, there’s one tried-and-tested technique with scientific backing for its effectiveness. And all it will cost you to try it is 30 minutes of your time.
What Is the Pomodoro Technique?
Developed by Berlin-based software engineer and consultant Francesco Cirillo while a university student in the 1980s, the Pomodoro Technique is beloved for its simplicity and effectiveness.
You simply set a timer for 25 minutes, work intently on a single task for that entire time, and then take a 5-minute break before beginning another set.
The technique was named for the tomato-shaped kitchen timer (pomodoro in Italian) that Cirillo used to keep himself on task.
It’s cute, it’s effective, and that little BING at the end is a nice lil’ dopamine hit for getting the job done.
But of course, you can just set a timer on your phone or ask your Alexa to do the dirty work, too.
Why Does the Pomodoro Technique Work?
Simply put, doing pomodoro cycles (pomos for short) keeps you focused and lets you do “deep work,” focusing on a single task instead of jumping around between various tasks and distractions, never quite accomplishing anything.
The human attention span is, frankly, rather short—we aren’t good at maintaining sustained focus for very long, especially on complex tasks. There are a lot of factors which can affect this, and there’s always the chance that you’ll slip into that blissful state called “flow” where time seems to stop and you get a week’s worth of work done in an hour.
But for the most part, even the most determined among us can only manage to be effective at a task for about 90 minutes at a time.
By aiming for 25-minute working periods followed by 5 minutes of rest, we’re better able to tune in to our brain’s natural ebb and flow, doing really great work for a short period of time, recharging, and then getting back to it.
How Do I Use the Pomodoro Technique Right?
While the Pomodoro Technique is simple at its heart, there are a few ways to make sure you’re getting the most from it.
1. Choose a specific task that you want to accomplish.
Make sure that it’s either something you can complete in that time, or that has a natural break point at about the 25-minute mark so you can stop easily. For example, you might set the goal of editing three pages, writing one sales pitch, or answering 10 emails.
2. Actually rest during your rest time.
Your 5-minute break isn’t the time to check email, work on a blog post, or update your invoicing system. Research shows that both duration and type of task affect how well we sustain attention and simply switching to another cognitively demanding task for 5 minutes won’t give you the reset you need to focus well in your next pomo.
Instead, try watching a funny cat video, doing a short meditation, or getting your blood flowing with some jumping jacks or wall sits (okay, so that last one takes about 7 minutes, but you’ll live).
3. Interrupt your interruptions.
During your pomo, set your phone to silent, close your email, turn off Slack notifications, and otherwise prepare to be undisturbed. Tell anyone in your vicinity that you’re gonna be grinding – now is the time to start training them to respect your pomos so that you can get these work sprints done right. You might only be able to schedule a few pomos per day, if you have the kind of work situation where other folks need to ask you questions or pop in regularly, but even 1 or 2 pomos daily can help you really hammer out the work that needs doing.
Just remember: The more you can narrow your attention, the more effective your 25-minute work bout will be.
4. Build an effective sequence of sprints.
You might not get into full flow during a 25-minute working sprint, but you can create a flowing sequence for yourself.
Plan out a few pomo tasks in a row, with each flowing logically into the next. If you’re editing a long article, for example, this will handle itself: you’ll just work for 25 minutes at a time on it. If you have other tasks to be handled, consider the sequence. Maybe you’ll start by answering emails, then choose the most important task from that batch to become its own pomo focus, and then move on to an assignment that’s due tomorrow in the third round once the immediate tasks have been accomplished.
5. Give yourself a longer break.
Every four pomodoros (aka, about every hour or so), take a longer break of 20-30 minutes. Have a snack. Take a walk. Go make some coffee. Play with the dog. Do something to really recharge yourself before attempting another set.
By alternating between intensely focused, distraction-free work periods and short breaks, with a longer break after a series of these work sprints, you’ll soon find yourself getting a lot more accomplished—with a lot less stress!
You might even discover that you’re getting so much done with a few pomodoro sets that you can end your workday sooner and go do, well, whatever.
That’s a lot of benefit from a tiny tomato timer!
Action Steps
- Pick a pomodoro focus.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes.
- Do a dang pomodoro already!
- Bing! Go take a rest. No, seriously, this is an important part of the technique.
- Learn more about the technique from a great research paper Cirillo wrote back in 2006.
Does the Pomodoro Technique work for you? Have you tried it, loved it, hated it, adapted it, tossed your timer out the window? Sound off in the comments!
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