Procrastination. The unhealthy habit that plagues everybody from students to full-time office workers. This constant battle is a consequence of a lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, low energy, and many other factors we all struggle with. We all wish there was a way to become more efficient and fight off our urges to procrastinate. Thankfully, there is a very effective method of organizing our time to allow for incredible growth, higher efficiency, deeper focus during work, while still allocating time to enjoy ourselves during the workday. This method is known as the Pomodoro Technique.
What is the Pomodoro Technique?
The Pomodoro Technique is a way to allocate and organize your time to ensure maximum efficiency while you are working. This is typically seen in the form of a 25-minute work period, followed by a 5-minute break period. This 30-minute block of time is known as one ‘Pomodoro’. After 4 Pomodoros, take a 15-to-30-minute break. This allows for a longer relaxing period to destress and gather your thoughts before the next few Pomodoros. The first 2-to-3 minutes of each Pomodoro can be used to recap from the previous Pomodoro, which is useful while using this technique to study for a test or exam.
For the break times between work periods, you should not be doing anything that requires significant mental effort. This could include getting up and walking around, grabbing a glass of water or a coffee, stretching, interacting with a friend or co-worker, and more. Once your work period is over, do not continue to work even if the task at hand only needs 2 or 3 minutes to fully complete the task. Take the break and complete the task during the next Pomodoro. This conditions your brain to be focused during the allocated work period and unfocused during the rest period. Your brain works at maximum efficiency near the beginning of a work period, which is why conditioning it to ‘reset’ during the rest period is essential in order to continue using the Pomodoro technique long-term. Typically, it takes anywhere between 7 to 20 days of consecutive Pomodoro sessions in order to ingrain this practice into your mind and build the habit.
Why Does the Pomodoro Technique Work So Well?
The Pomodoro technique is simple and easy to apply for most people. But why does it work so well? Here are a few reasons:
1. Small Increments Make Bigger Tasks Less Intimidating
When incrementing your time, the big tasks appear more approachable than looking at the big picture in one glance. Imagine a student saying to themselves, “I have to write my 15 page research paper this weekend,” That is an intimidating and daunting task that the student will likely procrastinate on. Alternatively, a student practicing the Pomodoro technique would say, “I am going to allocate 25 minutes to writing the introduction of my research paper. After that, I will take a 5-minute break and repeat the process,” Even if they do not finish the introduction in that time period, the task appears much more approachable than the previous perspective. Rather than procrastinating, the second individual at least got a start on the paper and will likely continue to work on it in consecutive Pomodoros until it is completed.
2. Brief Mental Breaks Allow for Longer Periods of Deep Focus
The brain works the hardest and at its most efficient near the beginning of a work period. After approximately 20-to-30 minutes, the attention and efficiency begins to dip. After longer periods of time, the brain is working at only a fraction of its potential, making 4-hour cram sessions extremely inefficient and a waste of time in most scenarios. This is where the 5-minute break between consecutive work periods helps to reset the mind to work at its maximum efficiency again. A 4-hour cram session with no breaks is inefficient and draining. Rather, a 4-hour cram session with approximately 1 hour total of break time evenly distributed throughout the session is very efficient. The brain will be highly attentive throughout the 3 hours of deep focus.
3. Prevents Boredom and Gamifies Your Productivity
The Pomodoro technique is a reward-based approach that keeps motivation high throughout the day. There is a downloadable Excel file at the bottom of the article that you can use to record and compare how effectively you are completing your Pomodoro sessions. All you must do to use this table is:
- Write down your to-do list for the day
- Write the expected number of Pomodoros that it will take to complete the task
- As you are completing the task, fill in the following box with X’s to signify one Pomodoro
- If you are interrupted in any way during a Pomodoro, write an apostrophe after the X and write down the additional task under the ‘Unplanned Interruptions’ heading. Do not complete this task during the Pomodoro, finish what you were working on and finish the interruption during the break (unless it is very urgent or takes a lot of focus). This fights off procrastination and distractions. Additionally, it shows the user that what may feel urgent in the moment is likely not urgent at all, and can wait until after the Pomodoro is complete
- After you complete a task, write down the difference between the expected and actual Pomodoros. This allows you to reflect on your work and analyze how effective you were during your Pomodoros. Recording and analyzing your work allows for growth and better efficiency
- Lastly, there are notes that can be added in the last column for you to write down your thoughts on a task, or anything else that you would like to take notes on for later
This table gamifies your productivity and assists in motivation throughout the day. Seeing a physical list of what must get done in one day may be intimidating at first, but breaking it down into subsequent periods of work and relaxation makes any daunting task more approachable.
How to Apply the Pomodoro Technique into Your Life
It is likely that allocating as much time as required in the Pomodoro technique is difficult in most situations. For example, a workplace likely has scheduled meetings, phone calls, and more. The Pomodoro technique can still be applied in situations with stricter timetables. Just be aware of certain time periods where the Pomodoro may be interrupted. After the interruption, gather your thoughts and allocate 2 or 3 minutes at the start of the next Pomodoro to see where you left off and continue for the full length of the work period.
The Pomodoro technique is not limited to 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest. What is wonderful about this technique is that it is fully modular. If you have been using the Pomodoro technique for a while, 60 minutes of work followed by 10 minutes of break can be a more effective use of this technique for you. Alternatively, 25 minutes of work may be too long to start with. 15 minutes of work followed by 5 minutes of rest still ensures 75% of your time is allocated to deep focus.
At the end of the week, look through your activity lists. Find out how efficient you were by taking the average number of Pomodoros completed each day. Use this information to grow next week. Look at your notes to find out where you struggled with your technique and where you excelled. For example, if you noted “Struggled around minute 18 in the 25-minute work period”, try shortening the work period to 18 minutes of work and 4 minutes of rest for example. This could save you time, enhance your efficiency, and increase your motivation throughout the work day.
Conclusion
The Pomodoro technique, if applied correctly, exponentially increases productivity, motivation, and gamifies your workday. Using the downloadable table, you can reference and compare your work over the last workday to ensure you are growing over time and becoming a more effective worker. Just remember, the most important rule of the Pomodoro technique is:
Once a Pomodoro starts, it MUST finish before you take a break
Setting this rule in stone trains your brain to work the way you want it to, as efficiently and effectively as possible.
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