In the late 1980s, a university student named Francesco Cirillo was struggling to focus on his studies and complete assignments. He needed a solution.
As a clever student, he decided to commit to just 10 minutes of focused work. This would create breaks for him in between his work sessions.
During his experimental technique, he found a tomato (Pomodoro means tomato in Italian) shaped kitchen timer, and the Pomodoro Technique was born.
As a very popular productivity/study hack, the Pomodoro Technique can work wonders for people feeling overwhelmed or stressed about their mass amounts of work. This technique is also known to help cure even the worst procrastination.
So if you’re looking for a way to keep your concentration and attention at a maximum while leaving mental fatigue and drowsiness at a minimum, then this could be the technique for you.
The Pomodoro Technique
Who knew that converting time into tomatoes (or pomodoros) would be so effective at keeping us on our toes? It may sound silly, but this isn’t called one of the greatest techniques for no reason.
The best part about the Pomodoro Technique is its simplicity:
Step 1: Grab a to-do list and a timer.
Step 2: Set the timer for 25 minutes and laser focus on one task at a time until the timer goes off.
Step 3: When the 25-minute work session is up, mark off one Pomodoro.
Step 4: You can now enjoy a 5-minute break!
Step 5: Once the break is over, you can set the timer and start again on a new task, or continue the previous task.
Yeah, it really is that easy. Infuse it with your workflow and you’ll be golden.
One Pomodoro is 25 minutes. This conversion from time to tomatoes is a great way to keep time management simple and easy to understand. Not only that, but these 5-minute breaks allow your brain a chance to catch up to itself. Allowing you to take a step back for a little while, before getting back to work.
Often we overwork ourselves without knowing the importance of taking a few breaks here and there. The Pomodoro Technique is a healthy way of working to reduce burnout, stress, or feeling overwhelmed.
Extra Rules
These couple of rules are important to add to the technique in order to keep a nice balance of work in certain sessions. As we diversify our workloads, we encounter large and small tasks that may need adjustments. Let me explain:
Rule #1: Split up larger workloads
If one single piece of work is taking more than 4 pomodoros (100 minutes) to complete, then it needs to be divided into smaller, more reasonable pieces.
This rule ensures that you keep a steady flow instead of going overboard; ultimately keeping you from overworking or burning out.
Rule #2: Combine smaller workloads
This rule is applied when something on the to-do list takes less than one Pomodoro to complete. If so, then you should add it to other workloads instead of keeping it on its own.
These tasks may include writing a letter, setting appointments, or even writing checks. Combining these types of things can help regulate your workloads, essentially keeping them in balance and making you more productive.
Rule #3: More than 4 pomodoros means taking longer breaks
Another rule to the technique is to take a longer 15-30 minute break if you have worked for more than 4 pomodoros (100 minutes). This rule is also important to keeping your mental health at a healthy spot and avoiding burnout from working too much at one time.
Again, breaks are as important as the work itself. If you aren’t careful about overworking, you may fly too close to the sun.
Rule #4: Once a Pomodoro is set, it cannot be broken
I know how it feels, getting loads of emails, text messages, calls, and more can be very hard to ignore (especially if it’s important). But the more important thing to know about this technique is that once you set the timer, it has to ring.
A Pomodoro is an indivisible time interval that is used to laser focus on any task imaginable, and any distraction can cause the center of your workflow to collapse.
They call it a workflow for a reason. The whole purpose of this method is to keep that flow stable and on track while keeping you in the zone and focused on the important work.
Once you’re out of your workflow, it’s quite a burden to get back in it. So for the sake of keeping your flow, I would advise you to keep your phone away from you and your notifications on silent. If you find yourself in a position where you must attend to the distraction, then you should take your 5-minute break then and start that timer again later.
Also…
If you find yourself in a situation where you finish your task before the timer runs out, take this extra time for extra matters. Overflow your knowledge, revise your work, improve your skills, etc.
It’s really up to you, as long as it is adequate to your standards.
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