Are you struggling with time management, finding it difficult to stay on top of your schedule and avoid distractions? Are long hours of sitting in one position taking its toll on your health? Do you often wonder why you are unable to be more productive? Have you fallen into a rut with the daily grind?
If you’ve answered “Yes” to any (or all) of these questions, it’s definitely time for serious course correction.
Perhaps you’ve heard or read about the Pomodoro Technique. It is one of the hottest new hacks that helps people to be more effective, productive and motivated. It harnesses shorter, sharper and more focused spurts of energy so that the final task is completed in a holistic way, with less stress.
What Is The Pomodoro Technique?
It all started in the late 1980s, when a young Italian student, Francesco Cirillo found that he was grappling with his own productivity and time management. He was unable to stay focused, fighting with procrastination and mental fatigue caused by long hours of concentrated study.
Cirillo developed a simple yet effective way to solve these issues. He used a simple kitchen timer that he had, and this was in the shape of a tomato. The Italian word for tomato is Pomodoro and that’s what inspired the name for the technique.
He would select a task, challenge himself to stay focused for just 25 minutes at a time. At the end of 25 minutes the timer would ring.
He would then take a 5 minute break at the end of each session. He would mark off each 25 minute session (called a Pomodoro) and document how much he had accomplished. Once he had crossed 4 Pomodoros he allowed himself a longer 15 minute break before resuming.
This is the basic technique, but you can customize it to sync with your own needs, and the kind of task involved. If you are doing something that needs longer and deeper work, you can extend the Pomodoro session and vice versa.
Using The Pomodoro Technique
One of the main reasons why this technique succeeds is because there is some amount of prep work and planning to be done. This ensures that the process becomes more streamlined and effective.
- Set out the task clearly and what you hope to accomplish at the end of it.
- Break it up into smaller steps
- Prioritize each step and create a logical sequence
- Set your Pomodoro timer for 25 minutes for the first task
- In case of distractions, note them down and park them for the time being. Stay focused on your task
- At the end of 25 minutes, take a break for 5 minutes. Move out of the work environment, grab a snack or drink, attend to an important call
- When the break time is done, resume another 25-minute Pomodoro. Mark each Pomodoro with an X
- At the end of 4 Pomodori, take a longer break of 15 minutes
- Continue till the task is complete
- Examine the way the task was completed, and reflect on how you felt about it.
Benefits Of Pomodoro Technique
This way of working makes you feel more in control. Often, we feel overwhelmed by the sheer size and goals of the task. Breaking it up into smaller sessions makes it easier and less intimidating. Most people tend to slip into procrastination to put off starting on a project.
You may do this by compulsively checking your email, social media or even tidying up your work space. These avoidance techniques can be eliminated.
Breaking up the task into smaller units that have a fixed time frame helps the mind to get going. This is known as “time boxing” where you have confined each task into a time frame.
It is a great defense against the “Planning Fallacy” where you endlessly create plans and blueprints without taking a single step towards starting the task. This technique works because it helps you to commit totally to a limited span of time.
Since the timer compels you to break off what you’re doing, it cannot be ignored. You may need multiple Pomodori sessions in a day to accomplish your task fully.
Bonding With Your Pomodoro Timer
You can follow Cirillo and get yourself a quirky kitchen timer in the shape of a tomato, lemon, fruit or vegetable.
The Pomodoro technique is a great way to de-stress. In the stress cycle, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in, and continued exposure can be physically and mentally harmful.
To counter this, you need to enable the parasympathetic nervous system to be engaged, and to help you do this you can use a Pomodoro timer from Rest and Digest. This productivity timer will help you segment your work hours, provide structure and allow your mind to work freely.
Use all the features available on your Pomodoro timer. If it’s a simple basic device similar to an egg-timer, you don’t have too many options. On the other hand, you can use apps and different online tools that offer the same features.
You can use Pomodoro timer apps that can be a simple, basic timer, or a shareable web-based one, a timer designed for mobile users or Apple users, and timer apps that use time tracking along with the Pomodoro technique.
If you prefer a physical timer, find one that doesn’t annoy or distract you with ticking sounds. Many people prefer a physical timer rather than an online one or an app. They feel that the actual act of turning the timer on and off gives them a sense of reality that keeps them focused.
Cube and disk-shaped timers are great for your office desk and they provide a minimalist and discreet look to your work spaces.
In the era of digital super-abundance, a physical timer proves to be another step in the direction of digital detox. As far as possible, avoid using your phone as a Pomodoro timer. It is very easy to slip into mindless scrolling when you lay your hands on the phone.
The sensation of hearing the timer, knowing that there is a break ahead, and that you have accomplished a particular unit of work during a Pomodoro session gives you a little rush of dopamine, making you feel good, in charge, and motivated.
Using a physical Pomodoro timer also keeps you out of the multitasking loop. There is just the one thing that can be done with a simple, physical timer, and that is clearly focused on your task and nothing else. This allows a more mindful, conscious method of time management, and one that enables greater focus and being in the moment.
Bonding with your own personal Pomodoro timer can become a lifetime friendship that can transform the way you approach work and relationships.
