Notes on: The Pomodoro Technique

'The Pomodoro Technique' is an article by Laura Scroggs and was originally published on todoist.com.

Beat procrastination and improve your focus one pomodoro at a time.

Pomodoro is Italian for tomato and it was a tomato-shaped kitchen timer used by Francesco Cirillo, a university student in the 1980s who was struggling to concentrate when studying, that inspired what is now known as the Pomodoro Technique - a popular time management method that involves focused work sessions with frequent short breaks in between.

The Pomodoro Technique is useful for many scenarios:

• you find yourself often getting tired throughout the day and find it hard to concentrate

• you find small distractions break your concentration throughout the day

• you start to lose momentum when you are working and things seemed forced

• you have an endless amount of work to do that involves a lot of time

• you take on more than you can handle throughout the day

• you enjoy gamified goal-setting

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique is a simple time management strategy that follows these simple steps:

1. Get a to-do list, or prepare a task you want to work on

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

3. When the timer goes off, mark one pomodoro and write down what you completed

4. Take a 5-minute break

5. Repeat with another 25-minute task

6. After 4 pomodoros, take a 15-30 minute break to recharge

The 25-minute sprints are an essential part of the Pomodoro Technique, but so are the following rules:

1. Break complex projects down into smaller tasks. If a task will take longer than 2 hours then it should be broken down into smaller parts to help make progress clearer.

2. Group small tasks together. Any task that will take less than 25-minutes should be grouped together and completed within a single pomodoro.

3. Once you set the timer, commit to the task. Do not let any distractions interrupt your concentration and commitment to the pomodoro. Consider shutting off your email, messenger and phone notifications to ensure you stay focused.

Sometimes disruptions do happen, and if they do, consider that your 5-minute break and start a new pomodoro. You can even track interruptions you are getting throughout the day and plan ahead next time for how to avoid them.

If you finish a task before your pomodoro is done, find ways to fill it productively, like by doing some research on a subject, or reading an article. You can even keep a list of articles you want to read and leverage that list if you have some extra time in your pomodoro.

The Pomodoro Technique trains your brain to get into a flow state for a short period of time.

What makes pomodoro so effective?

The Pomodoro Technique is effective because all it requires is a to-do list or a task, and a timer. We tend to put things off to avoid negative feelings like the fear of failing to complete a task or do it effectively. One way to break procrastination is to focus on the next step in completing the task. Instead of running a marathon, you can just concentrate on putting your shoes on and running for 5-minutes first.

The Pomodoro Technique makes progress easier to notice because you take a large daunting task and break it into smaller pieces that make it easier to see progress. If you concentrate on just reading the next chapter before you know it you will be done the whole book.

Regaining focus when you are in a flow state is very difficult. It is easy for us to blame co-workers or family, but research shows that half the workday distractions are self-inflicted. Even small distractions, like the few seconds it takes to check your messages, requires even more time and energy to refocus back on your task, sometimes up to 20-minutes to reach flow state again. A 1-minute distraction becomes 20-minutes lost of optimal productivity.

Committing to the Pomodoro Technique will help you fight the urge to succumb to distractions. It may take a bit of practise at first, but then your body will automatically enter a deep focused state by the cue of the timer.

When forecasting the time it would take to complete a task in the future we often underestimate - this is known as the planning fallacy. Even if we have done similar tasks in the future, we assume circumstances would be more favourable than they are.

With the Pomodoro Technique, instead of having to guess what would take 25-minutes, you just stick to the time period and fill it up. A pomodoro is a unit of time and effort put towards a single task or group of similar tasks. It transitions the concept of time from something that we lose to something we gain through accomplishments.

How to increase the success of the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique makes planning your day easier and helps you stay on time with things (because you will never go over 25-minutes!). Over time you will become much better at estimating how many pomodoros any given task would take.

Consistency is more important than perfection with the Pomodoro Technique. Each session is a fresh start to challenge yourself to focus and limit distractions.

You can challenge yourself further by trying to complete goals, like seeing how long you can go doing 8 pomodoros a day, or seeing if you can take a big task complete it in a set number of pomodoros.

Planning your pomodoros ahead will help increase the chances of your success. You should start by taking your to-do list and breaking larger tasks down, and grouping smaller tasks together and then reviewing the number of pomodoros you need and when you can get them done.

If you work an 8-hour workday then technically you can do 16 pomodoros in a day, but that does not leave room for things that come up, or tasks that need more pomodoros than you planned for. It is best to leave 2 - 4 pomodoros a day for overflow tasks. If you do not end up using them, you can go to your reading list, or find some lower priority tasks that you can group together and clear from your to-do list. It is much less stressful to have extra pomodors than need more.

Remember, most people are unable to be productive for a full 16 pomodoros a day. It is good to measure your productivity and pay attention when it is waning. Focus on quality over quantity.

For certain tasks that require a longer flow state, such as creative tasks, it may make sense to increase your pomodoro time, but do not forget to also increase your break time. One study found that 52 minutes of focus and 17 minutes for break can be optimal, others may prefer a full 90 minutes of concentration with a 30-minute break.

For certain tasks that you have been really avoiding, or are causing you anxiety, maybe because they are difficult to do, either way, when we are seriously procrastinating on a task, it may make sense to lower the pomodoro to 15 or even 5 minutes. You can always increase the time if you find your anxiety reducing after a few pomodoros.

It is important that your breaks take you away from the devices that make you think of work. Try going for a walk, grabbing a snack, doing a chore, stretching, whatever you do, avoid your devices.