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The One Time Management Technique That Always Works
The Pomodoro method can help increase productivity and focus while making work more fun and less stressful.
Pomodoros are an ideal productivity strategy to incorporate into your everyday routine. They help keep work fun and novel.
The Pomodoro technique was created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. As a student, Cirillo used a timer to divide the duration of his work into intervals of 25 minutes, separated by 5-minute breaks. Cirillo named the technique for the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that he had on hand when inventing the method. The word pomodoro, which is Italian for tomato, has come to refer to a cycle of work and rest.
At first, Maya found it supremely difficult to ignore her usual sources of distraction — her phone, her cats, her refrigerator — and focus on nothing but the work in front of her and the rhythmic ticking of her kitchen timer. But as she got closer to the end of the 25-minute session, Maya felt a sense of ease start to come over her. She knew she could step away from the desk when the timer went off, setting aside the practice problems for a few minutes of sunshine in the garden. At the end of twenty-five minutes, she felt that the work had been manageable. She could do this again.
The Pomodoro method is supported by research showing how planned breaks can increase creativity and focus, helping us stay alert and accomplish more over time. By giving yourself an endpoint (i.e., the conclusion of a work interval) to focus on, you can push yourself to concentrate a little harder with the knowledge a break is not far away.
How to do a Pomodoro working session:
- Fight procrastination: get started by setting a 25-minute timer, or if that’s too much, a 5-minute one
- Eliminate distractions to increase focus: session should take place with just you, your timer, and your work (and maybe some energizing music)
- Commit to single-tasking: set a defined goal for the session and work on it until it’s done
- Gain a better understanding of how long tasks take you to complete: estimate how many pomodoros you’ll need to complete each task ahead of you
