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Text Content

 * Productivity Methods
 * The Pomodoro Technique

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THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE

Beat procrastination and improve your focus one pomodoro at a time

Tags:Low commitment,Popular,Time management,Procrastination,Focus
 1. Introduction
 2. What is the Pomodoro Technique?
 3. What makes pomodoro so effective?
 4. Quick tips for pomodoro-ing
 5. How to pomodoro with Todoist

Introduction

 1. What is the Pomodoro Technique?
 2. What makes pomodoro so effective?
 3. Quick tips for pomodoro-ing
 4. How to pomodoro with Todoist

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The secret to effective time management is...thinking in tomatoes rather than
hours? It may seem silly at first, but millions of people swear by the
life-changing power to the Pomodoro Technique. (Pomodoro is Italian for tomato.
🍅)

This popular time management method asks you to alternate pomodoros — focused
work sessions — with frequent short breaks to promote sustained concentration
and stave off mental fatigue.

Try the Pomodoro Technique if you...

 * Find little distractions often derail the whole workday

 * Consistently work past the point of optimal productivity

 * Have lots of open-ended work that could take unlimited amounts of time (e.g.,
   studying for an exam, research for a blog post, etc.)

 * Are overly optimistic when it comes to how much you can get done in a day
   (aren't we all 🙃)

 * Enjoy gamified goal-setting

 * Really like tomatoes



FIND OUT WHICH PRODUCTIVITY METHOD FITS YOU BEST

Get a personalized recommendation based on your workstyle and goals.

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WHAT IS THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE?

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.

Though Cirillo went on to write a 130-page book about the method,  its biggest
strength is its simplicity:

 1. Get a to-do list and a timer.

 2. Set your timer for 25 minutes, and focus on a single task until the timer
    rings.

 3. When your session ends, mark off one pomodoro and record what you completed.

 4. Then enjoy a five-minute break.

 5. After four pomodoros, take a longer, more restorative 15-30 minute break.

The 25-minute work sprints are the core of the method, but a Pomodoro practice
also includes three rules for getting the most out of each interval:

 1. 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.

 2. 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.

 3. 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 like Todoist
    is a great place for these, but pen and paper will do too.

In the event of an unavoidable disruption, take your five-minute break and start
again. Cirillo recommends that you track interruptions (internal or external) as
they occur and reflect on how to avoid them in your next session.

The rule applies even if you do finish your given task before the timer goes
off. Use the rest of your time for overlearning, or improving skills or scope of
knowledge. For example, you could spend the extra time reading up on
professional journals or researching networking opportunities.


TODOIST TIP

Keep an "Overlearning" project in Todoist with a list of tasks you can quickly
choose from the next time you find yourself with pomodoro time to spare.

If the system seems simple, that’s because it is. The Pomodoro technique is all
about getting your mind in the zone to finish your tasks.


WHAT MAKES POMODORO SO EFFECTIVE?

The arbitrary silliness of using a tomato as a stand-in for units of time belies
the Pomodoro Technique's serious effectiveness when it comes to helping people
get things done. Here's what makes the method uniquely suited to boosting
productivity:


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 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

If you’ve ever been interrupted when you were in a flow state, you know how
difficult regaining focus can be. Yet, the constant stream of information
pouring in via emails, team chats, and social media notifications demands more
and more of our attention.

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.

The Pomodoro technique can be a valuable weapon against the planning fallacy.
When you start working in short, timed sessions, time is no longer an abstract
concept but a concrete event. It becomes a pomodoro — a unit of both time and
effort. Distinct from the idea of 25 minutes of general "work," the pomodoro is
an event that measures focus on a single task (or several simple tasks).

The concept of time changes from a negative — something that has been lost — to
a positive representation of events accomplished. Cirillo calls this "inverting
time" because it changes the perception of time passing from an abstract source
of anxiety to an exact measure of productivity. This leads to much more
realistic time estimates.

Writer Ben Dolnick describes how his perception of time changed while using the
method:

> "Five minutes on the internet, as measured by my timer, would pass in what
> seemed to me about 35 seconds. A timed hour of research would seem to take
> between three and four hours. My timer was a crisp metal yardstick laid down
> in the fog of my temporal intuitions.”

When you use the Pomodoro technique, you have a clear measurement of your finite
time and your efforts, allowing you to reflect and plan your days more
accurately and efficiently. With practice, you'll be able to accurately assess
how many pomodoros a task will take and build more consistent work habits.


GAMIFYING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

Every pomodoro provides an opportunity to improve upon the last. Cirillo argues
that “concentration and consciousness lead to speed, one pomodoro at a time."

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.

Motivate yourself to build on your success by setting a goal to add an extra
pomodoro each day. Challenge yourself to finish a big task in a set number of
pomodoros. Try setting a goal number of pomodoros for each day without breaking
the chain. Thinking in tomatoes rather than hours is just more fun.


QUICK TIPS FOR POMODORO-ING

While the 25/5 minute work/break intervals are the heart of the Pomodoro
Technique, there are a few things you can do to make your pomodoros more
effective:


PLAN OUT YOUR POMODOROS IN ADVANCE



Take 15 minutes at the beginning of your workday (or at the end if you're
planning for the next day), to plan out your pomodoros. Take your to-do list for
the day and note how many pomodoros each task will take. (Remember, tasks that
will take more than 5 pomodoros should be broken down into smaller, more
manageable tasks. Smaller tasks, like responding to emails, can be batched
together in a single pomodoro.)

If you work an 8-hour workday, make sure your pomodoros for the day don't go
over sixteen. If they do, postpone the least urgent/least important tasks for
later in the week.


DIG DEEPER

Learn how to plan your day for optimal productivity.


BUILD OVERFLOW POMODOROS INTO YOUR DAY

While an 8-hour workday technically leaves room for sixteen pomodoros, it's best
to build in a buffer of 2-4 "overflow" pomodoros, just in case. Use your
overflow pomodoros for tasks that take longer than you planned or for unexpected
tasks that come up during the day.

If you don't end up needing them, use the extra pomodoros for learning or lower
priority tasks that always get pushed to the end of your to-do list. It's much
less stressful to end the day with pomodoros to spare than to overschedule
yourself and get behind.


HOW MANY POMODOROS ARE IN A DAY?

Over time, you'll get a better sense of how many high-quality pomodoros you're
actually capable of completing in a day. It's ok if it's not a full sixteen. The
vast majority of people aren't actually productive for the full 8 hours of a
workday, and those who think they are probably haven't been paying close enough
attention. When it comes to pomodoros, challenge yourself, but keep the focus on
quality over quantity.


EXPERIMENT WITH THE LENGTH OF YOUR POMODOROS

For some types of work that require extended periods in a creative "flow" state
— thinking coding, writing, composing, etc — 25 minutes may be too short. Try
extended work sessions with longer breaks. A DeskTime study found that a
52-minute focus and 17-minute break is the perfect balance. Others prefer 90
full minutes with a 20-30-minute break, based on Ultradian rhythms.

For tasks that you've been putting off for one reason or another, 25 minutes
might be too long. If you're feeling a lot of mental resistance, or you just
can't get yourself to stay focused for 25 minutes, try a 15-, 10-, or even
5-minute pomodoro.

For most people most of the time, the sweet spot will be in the 25-50 minute
range for peak concentration with a 5-15 minute break. Try mixing your intervals
based on your available energy, the type of work, and how much a task makes you
want to bury your head in cute puppy videos on YouTube instead.


GET AWAY FROM SCREENS DURING BREAKS

Not all breaks are created equal. If your pomodoro work sessions happen on your
computer, don't just switch over to Twitter or Instagram when the timer goes
off. Give your eyes and brain a break from screens — that means your phone too!
Stand up, move around, stretch, go outside, do a mini meditation, grab a snack,
watch birds out the window. If you work from home, fold some clothes or clear
off the kitchen table.

Whatever you do, your break will be much more mentally refreshing if you get
away from the glowing hypnosis of your computer or phone.


USE AN APP TO ENFORCE YOUR POMODOROS

Humans are fallible. No matter how motivated you are at the start of the day,
it's really hard to actually stick to your pomodoros. Hold yourself accountable
with a break reminder app.

The best ones let you customize how long your work sessions are, how obtrusive
you want your reminders to be, and how strictly you want your breaks enforced.
Some will lock you out of your computer for the duration of your breaks.

We recommend Big Stretch for Windows and BreakTime for Mac.


HOW TO POMODORO WITH TODOIST

So you're convinced the Pomodoro Technique is the greatest thing since sliced
bread. Now it's time to put the method into action. Here's how to plan your
pomodoros with Todoist:


PLAN

At the start of each day (or the night before), review all your active projects
and one-off tasks and schedule everything you want to accomplish for "Today".

Estimate how many pomodoros each task will take. Add tomato emojis to the end of
the task name to indicate your pomodoro estimate.




TODOIST TIP

Hold down the Alt/Option key while clicking on a task to quickly edit the task
name without opening the full task view.

Break anything bigger than four pomodoros down into smaller sub-tasks. For
example, a project titled "redesign website" might need a more pomodoro-sized
sub-task like "find 5 example websites as inspiration."



Now when you open your Today view, you'll see your scheduled tasks along with
how many pomodoros each will take. Drag and drop your tasks to reflect the order
you'll work on them.

If you have more than 12-14 pomodoros (remember that buffer!), postpone some of
your tasks to the next day or later in the week. If you have 10 tasks you want
to do in a day, you may find it helpful to only schedule half of the list and to
assign an "@on_deck" label to indicate the tasks you'll get to if you have time.


TODOIST TIP

You may want to add tasks you do every day — or even multiple times a day — as
recurring tasks. For example, you might have a task called "Get to inbox zero"
scheduled for "every weekday". Here's how to add recurring due dates in Todoist.




WORK

You'll start your day with a clear plan of what you'll work on during each
pomodoro. You can use the timer on your phone, a physical Pomodoro timer, or any
of the many digital alternatives like Pomodone which integrates with Todoist.

Once your timer starts, it must go off! Keep focused by adding any ideas or
requests that come in as new tasks in your Todoist Inbox. When your timer runs
out, you can review the list, schedule urgent tasks for a later pomodoro, and
file away less urgent things for another day.


DIG DEEPER

Learn 11 fast ways to add tasks to Todoist so you can get back to your pomodoro.


REPEAT

Build your concentration muscle by making your pomodoro planning a daily
routine. Add a task in Todoist 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.

LAURA SCROGGS

Laura is a freelance writer, PhD candidate, and pug mom living in Minneapolis,
MN.


FIND MORE PRODUCTIVITY METHODS

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