In an extremely fast-paced world we’re always looking for new ways to become more efficient, a way to maximize the time we have at our disposal to create the biggest impact in the work we do.
The issue with living in such a connected world is that we’re prone to distractions. The cell phone that keeps ringing the lure of social media, so called urgent emails that we need to respond to and the million other things that just pop up during our busy work day.
Eventually, when we actually sit down to do the work half the day is gone and we wonder where on earth our time has been spent.
So today I’m going to show you how a tomato can completely change your life. Well perhaps not a tomato but a simple tomato timer.
Let’s dive deeper into the Pomodoro technique.
When should you consider using the Pomodoro technique?
If you find that little distractions are completely derailing your work day and putting you in a foul mood.
Perhaps you constantly find that you’re working past the point of optimal productivity, and notice that what should have taken you a few minutes is now taking an hour or two because you’re worn out.
Or even if you have lots of open-ended work that would take an unlimited amount of time.
If you associate yourself with any of these reasons then I would definitely advise that you take a look into this technique and how it could benefit you in your day-to-day work life.
What is the Pomodoro Technique
Before we go and look at how to improve your efficiency with the pomodoro technique, perhaps we should maybe just talk about what it is.
The Pomodoro technique was a productivity technique that was created in 1987 by a university student by the name of Francesco Cerillo. Francesco found it extremely difficult to focus on working on specific tasks and set himself a challenge. What he did was he took a tomato timer from his kitchen table and challenged himself to concentrate on that specific task for at least 2 minutes. Once he had successfully achieved the two minutes he then challenged himself to take on longer and longer times.
After testing various times Francesco discovered that the optimal time for him to concentrate was around 25 to 30 minutes with 5 -10 minute breaks in between.
How Does The Pomodoro Technique Work
The Pomodoro technique is extremely simple to follow it focuses on five steps.
- You must pick a task to complete
- Set a 25 minute timer
- Work on the task till the time is up
- Take a 5 minute break
- Every Pomodoro’s take a 15-30 minute break
The pomodoro practice consists of three results for getting the most out of each interval
1) You need to break down complex projects into bitable sizes. For instance, you may not be able to complete a massive project in 25 minutes, but if you broke that project up into smaller tasks that can be achieved within a 25 minute period, you will eventually have completed the project over a number of pomodoro intervals.
2) Another rule is that small tasks go together. Sometimes small task may not take you 25 minutes, but what you can do is you can group together a bunch of small tasks and place them into one Pomodoro interval.
3) The third rule is that once the Pomodoro is set, the timer must ring. this means that if you do finish a task before your Pomodoro runs out, you will then be able to use the remainder of the time on learning or low priority tasks.
What makes the Pomodoro technique so Effective and what are the benefits?
1) It’s Easy To Get Started
What makes the Pomodoro technique so effective is that it is easy to get started. When we are facing lengthy tasks we tend to procrastinate. As mentioned earlier if we start breaking these massive tasks into smaller achievable tasks, it puts us into a mindset where the challenge is not so intimidating and it decreases the tendency to procrastinate.
2) It Combats Distractions
It also helps us to combat distractions. One of the issues that I personally have is my phone rings a lot and what I find is that because I have dedicated this time to complete a certain task, when my phone rings I immediately switch it off because it is the time dedicated to complete the task. When people ask me to do something I ask them to give me a few more minutes until my timer is complete. This really does help me combat the distractions and helps me to have laser focus on completing the task.
3) It helps us to see where our time is being spent
It also helps us to become more aware of where and how our time is being spent during the course of the day. You’ll have different pomodoro intervals and these intervals will be associated to different tasks. When it comes to the end of the day you could easily see where your time has been spent.
The Pomodoro technique also helps us to avoid planning fallacy. Planning fallacy is the tendency to vastly underestimate the time needed to complete future tasks. When we start thinking of how a task fits within a Pomodoro interval we start estimating correctly and not misjudging or overestimating our ability to complete a task.
If I had to summarize the benefits of the Pomodoro technique I would say that it really helps with three things
- Improves Your Focus
- Reduces Fatigue
- Keeps Everyone Accountable
Tips On How To Pomodoro
Since we now understand what the Pomodoro technique is, how it works and what the benefits are let me give you a few tips on how to do it effectively
You need to plan your Pomodoro’s in advance
What you should do is take your to do list for one day and note exactly how many Pomodoro’s each task will take. If you work a 8 hour work day you must make certain that your Pomodoro’s don’t go over 16.
One thing I would like to emphasize here is that meetings have not been considered.
What I typically do if I have meetings during the day is that I exclude my meetings. I use the pomodoro technique for the work that actually needs to be done and is set within my focus time.
Build overflow of Pomodoro’s in your work day
You must use this overflow for tasks that take longer than you planned, or for those unexpected tasks that just land in your lap. if you don’t use these overflow Pomodoro’s you can use them for learning or again for low priority tasks as we mentioned above,
Experiment with the length of your Pomodoro’s.
Each person works in their own different way. Some people may find that they need to be in a creative flow, for instance, graphic designers need they to be sitting down for a longer period of time before they can get into the groove.
For instance, if you decide that you’re going to work let’s say 90 minutes then perhaps take a 20-to-30-minute break in between that. Test with different options and see which one enables you to maintain a high level of concentration.
Find a Pomodoro partner
If you’re working within a team environment, consider finding a Pomodoro partner. Tell each other what you plan to do with your Pomodoro, begin at the same time. Afterwards, reflect on the amount of work you got done and then give each other kudos and encouragement.
This really helps you to keep yourself accountable to your partner and to yourself.
One thing I want to mention is that you could be doing this with an individual that is not within the organization itself. It could be with a family member or a friend. The choice is yours.
Take your break away from your screen
Considering that most of us look at our screens while we work you definitely do not want to be spending the time that you’re on a break looking at a screen. Stretch your legs for 5 minutes and get outside and enjoy nature.
Personally what I do is I go and do piano exercises for five minutes and it really does help I really enjoy it gives me a time to break and during my 15 to 30 minute breaks I go make myself a nice cup of coffee spend time with my wife and son and just hear what they’ve been up to during the course of the day.
How to become a POMODORO Expert
As we come to the conclusion of the article I’d like to leave you with six steps in order for you to become a pomodoro expert.
There are six steps to becoming a Pomodoro expert
- Find out how much effort is required for you to complete a task
- Learn how to protect your Pomodoro from distractions
- Make accurate estimations for the Pomodoro’s needed to complete a task
- Use the time in your Pomodoro for recap work and review
- Set a timetable for your to-dos
- Find your own personal objective
Master those tips and you will be a Pomodoro expert in no time!
