What is the Pomodoro Technique, and how does it work?
Francesco Cirillo, a university student at the time, created the Pomodoro Technique in the late 1980s. Cirillo was having trouble concentrating on his academics and completing homework. He asked himself to commit to only 10 minutes of dedicated study time since he was feeling overwhelmed. Encouraged by the challenge, he discovered a tomato-shaped kitchen timer (Pomodoro in Italian), and the Pomodoro technique was created.
The Pomodoro Technique assists you in resisting self-interruptions and retraining your brain to focus. Each Pomodoro is committed to a single job, and each break is an opportunity to reset and return your focus to the task at hand.
Pomodoro Technique:
Get a to-do list and a timer.
Set your timer for 25 minutes, and focus on a single task until the timer rings.
When your session ends, mark off one Pomodoro and record what you completed.
Then enjoy a five-minute break.
After four pomodoros, take a longer, more restorative 15-30 minute break.
What is it about Pomodoro that makes it so effective?
The random absurdity of substituting a tomato for time units belies the Pomodoro Technique's genuine usefulness in assisting individuals in getting things done. Here's why the approach is so effective in increasing productivity:
Making it simple to get started
Procrastination, according to research, has nothing to do with laziness or a lack of self-control. Rather, we procrastinate in order to prevent unpleasant sensations. It's unsettling to face a large task or project that you may not know how to complete or that contains a lot of ambiguity. So, if only briefly, we resort to Twitter or Netflix to lift our spirits. Fortunately, studies have shown that shrinking whatever you're putting off down to a little, unintimidating initial step will help you break free from the avoidance loop. Instead of sitting down to write a novel, for example, sit down to write for 5 minutes. Is it still too difficult? Sitting down to revise a paragraph is a good start. It's a lot simpler to confront a little assignment for a short period of time than trying to tackle a large job all at once. The Pomodoro approach encourages you to break down your major chores, projects, or objectives into something you just have to complete for the next 25 minutes, which is a proven procrastination-busting tool. It keeps you hyper-focused on the next task at hand rather than being overwhelmed with the magnitude of the task at hand. Take it one Pomodoro at a time and don't stress about the outcome.
Dealing with Distractions
If you have been stopped while in a flow state, you know how tough it can be to get back on track. Despite this, the continual barrage of information arriving in the form of emails, team conversations, and social media alerts requires an increasing amount of our attention.
While it would be great to blame everything on technology, recent research suggests that more than half of all workplace distractions are self-inflicted, meaning we drag ourselves out of concentration. It's easy to explain these internal tugs at the moment: "This email is too essential to wait," or "Checking my Twitter took less than a minute; it's not a genuine distraction." But all of those little hiccups pile up! It takes time and works to redirect your attention, not simply the time you waste on distractions. Our thoughts might linger on the prior job for up to 20 minutes after switching gears before recovering complete focus. Checking Facebook "just for a minute" may quickly grow into 20 minutes of attempting to get back on track.
Pomodoro and The Future
Time management is always going to be a major issue whether it is now or 50 years in the future. It is important to acknowledge the resources you have to help with that; Pomodoro being one of them. The more focused this generation becomes, the more we will be able to accomplish. Simple time management will always be critical in assisting the world move forward.
If you're looking for a quick fix, or you just love tomatoes, try the Pomodoro Technique!