The Pomodoro Technique of Productivity (And Why It Works!)
Pomodoro is Italian for Tomato! It is a popular time management method which asks you to alternate pomodoros — focused work sessions — with frequent short breaks to promote sustained concentration and stave off mental fatigue.
The Pomodoro Technique was developed in the late 1980s by then university student Francesco Cirillo. Cirillo was struggling to focus on his studies and complete assignments. Feeling overwhelmed, he asked himself to commit to just 10 minutes of focused study time. Encouraged by the challenge, he found a tomato (“Pomodoro” in Italian) shaped kitchen timer, and the Pomodoro technique was born.
The Technique:
- Make your own to-do list for the day.
- Get a timer.
- Set your timer for 25 minutes and work on the task till exactly 25 minutes and then take a break(even if you don’t want to).
- Take a break for 5 minutes.
- Force yourself to stay away from mobile phones or any other distractions and drink water take a walk every 25 minutes.
- After four pomodoros, take a longer, more restorative 15-30 minute break.
Things you need to know!
Pomodoro practice includes three rules for getting the most out of each interval:
- Break down complex projects. If a task requires more than four pomodoros, it needs to be divided into smaller, actionable steps. Sticking to this rule will help ensure you make clear progress on your projects.
- Small tasks go together. Any tasks that will take less than one Pomodoro should be combined with other simple tasks. For example, “write rent check,” “set vet appointment,” and “read Pomodoro article” could go together in one session.
- Once a pomodoro is set, it must ring. The pomodoro is an indivisible unit of time and can not be broken, especially not to check incoming emails, team chats, or text messages. Any ideas, tasks, or requests that come up should be taken note of to come back to later. A digital task manager or a pen & paper manager will be okay.
I recommend you to track interruptions (internal or external) as they occur and reflect on how to avoid them in your next session.
Why does it Work?
Making it easy to just get started
Research has shown the procrastination has little to do laziness or lack of self-control. Rather, we put things off to avoid negative feelings. It’s uncomfortable to stare down a big task or project – one you may not be sure how to even do or one involves a lot of uncertainty. So we turn to Twitter or Netflix instead to boost our mood, if only temporarily.
Luckily, studies have also shown an effective way to break out of the avoidance cycle: shrink whatever it is you’re putting off down to a tiny, unintimidating first step. For example, instead of sitting down to write novel, sit down to write for 5 minutes. Still too hard? Try just sitting down to edit a paragraph. Doing something small for a short period of time is a whole lot easier to face than trying to take on a big project all at once.
That procrastination-busting strategy is exactly what the pomodoro technique asks you to do: break down your big tasks, projects, or goals into something you only have to do for the next 25 minutes. It keeps you hyper focused on the one next thing you need to do rather than get overwhelmed by the enormity of what you’re taking on. Don’t worry about the outcome — just take it one pomodoro at a time.
Combating distractions
While it would be nice to blame technology for everything, recent studies suggest over half of all workday distractions are self-inflicted — meaning we pull ourselves out of focus. In the moment, it can be easy to justify these internal pulls — “This email is too important to wait,” or “It took less than a minute to check my Twitter; it isn’t a real distraction.”
But those small interruptions add up! It isn’t just the time you lose on distractions, it also takes time and energy to refocus your attention. After switching gears, our minds can linger over the previous task for upwards of 20 minutes until regaining full concentration. Indulging the impulse to check Facebook “just for a minute” can turn into 20 minutes of trying to get back on task.
The Pomodoro Technique helps you resist all of those self-interruptions and re-train your brains to focus. Each pomodoro is dedicated to one task and each break is a chance to reset and bring your attention back to what you should be working on.
Becoming more aware of where your time goes
When planning out our future projects, most of us fall victim to the planning fallacy — our tendency to vastly underestimate the time needed to complete future tasks, even when we know similar tasks have taken longer in the past. Your present self imagines your future self operating under entirely different circumstances and time restraints.
Gamifying your productivity
The Pomodoro technique is approachable because it is more about consistency than perfection. Each session is a fresh start to reevaluate your goals, challenge yourself to focus, and limit distractions. You can make the system work for you.
Conclusion
Build your concentration muscle by making your pomodoro planning a daily routine. Add a task for the same time each morning to remind yourself to plan out your pomodoros. Challenge yourself to hit a certain number of pomodoros each day, and take time at the end to reflect on what went well and how you could improve your focus in the future.
Author Bio:
“I am Abhishek Pathak from India studying General Medicine(MBBS) in Russia. Life of a Medical student is full of great moments and a few really sad moments but keep in mind you are not alone and everyone is going through it. I always wanted to be a realist when it comes to blogging and I only want to write about what I am going through. If I tell you about me, I am an Indian studying in Russia wanting to settle in USA! And even thinking about this seems impossible but that’s why I am here to show that an IMG can do it with hardwork and dedication! You can go to my website for more blogs regarding productivity, USMLE studying, and personal growth – abhishekpathakmedical.wordpress.com.”
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