Pomodoro Technique: This is My Favorite Productivity Hack!

How productive do you think the average person is during an 8-hour workday?

This is the exact question I discussed with a mentee a few weeks back when we met up for a drink. We both agreed it was no more than a few hours and thanks to a quick Google search, we were proven correct.

According to an article on Inc.com,  “Research suggests that in an eight-hour day, the average worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes.” ²

The article went on to say that, the most unproductive activities were:

Reading news websites–1 hour, 5 minutes
Checking social media–44 minutes
Discussing non-work-related things with co-workers–40 minutes
Searching for new jobs–26 minutes
Taking smoke breaks–23 minutes
Making calls to partners or friends–18 minutes
Making hot drinks–17 minutes
Texting or instant messaging–14 minutes
Eating snacks–8 minutes
Making food in office–7 minutes

Based on my own experience, I think for many jobs, this is accurate. The number of times we are interrupted by others or ourselves can really put a dent in the amount of work we get done.

And as I told my mentee, now that I am working as a freelancer, it is amazing how much work I can get done when not being interrupted, especially when I am using the Pomodoro technique.

While I wrote about the Pomodoro technique in a previous post, I really wanted to do a deeper dive into it after reading Francesco Cirillo’s great book on it called The Pomodoro Technique.

Why Should We Use the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro technique is a productivity tool that was invented by an Italian guy named Francesco Cirillo, back in the late 1980s, when he was a student.  He created the Pomodoro method so that he could get more focused studying done.

Many of us have a hard time staying focused and on task.  There are so many distractions these days – meetings, social media, cell phones, people – that it is really challenging to get focused work done.  It’s as if our brains are so used to distractions that it’s almost like we embrace them.

Back to the point, I made to my friend in the introduction, most of us only really complete roughly 3 hours of work every day.

By using the Pomodoro technique, it forces us to be extremely mindful of how we are spending our time. Before we move on to how to use the Pomodoro technique, let’s first examine…

The Goals of the Pomodoro Technique

There are several goals the Pomodoro technique can help you achieve with respect to your productivity, namely:

  Reduce the anxiety related to time passing and slipping away with your getting much done.

  Increase your focus and concentration by reducing distractions.

  Become more aware of how you spend your time.

  Help you take consistent action toward your goals.

  Refine your estimation process of how long it takes to do certain tasks.

How to Use the Pomodoro Technique

Using the Pomodoro technique is simple and straightforward.

You simply alternate 25 minutes of focused work with 5-minute breaks.  You repeat this process 4 times and then take a longer break.

So, it looks like this:

25 minutes of focused work
5-minute break

25 minutes of focused work
5-minute break

25 minutes of focused work
5-minute break

25 minutes of focused work
30-minute break

Repeat

In case you are wondering why they are called Pomodoros, the Italian word for tomato is ‘Pomodoro’.  Cirillo uses a tomato-shaped kitchen timer to time his work and breaks intervals. Hence the name of the Pomodoro technique!

More Specifics for Using the Pomodoro Technique

There are a few more specific for using the Pomodoro technique that you should note:

  As I said, Cirillo uses a kitchen timer to time his work, so you can use one of those or the timer on your phone, computer or whatever.

  It’s best to begin your day with a list of tasks that you want to work on, that way you don’t need to think about what to work on during your Pomodoros.

  Once the 25-minute Pomodoro has started, it cannot be interrupted. There is no such thing as a half a Pomodoro or a quarter of a Pomodoro. You will need to find something else to do for the rest of the Pomodoro.

  There are times when you will need to void a Pomodoro as Cirillo advises, “If a Pomodoro is definitely interrupted, by someone or something, that Pomodoro should be considered void as if it had never been set; then you should make a fresh start with a new Pomodoro.” ¹

  Once your 25 minutes is up, put an X next to the task you have been working on and take a 5-minute break.

  It is IMPORTANT to stop working right when the Pomodoro is up. It will allow you to disconnect from your work, so you have time to assimilate what you have learned or worked on for the past 25 minutes. In addition, it will also allow you to do something that is good for your health like grabbing a glass of water, meditating or getting up and moving around. Remember, sitting for too long is not good for you!

  The break after your 4^th Pomodoro is important as well and you can use it to grab something to eat, catch up on email, go for a walk – whatever your little heart desires!

Why 25 Minutes?

As Cirillo points out, there is a reason for the length of the Pomodoro:

“The Pomodoro has to encourage consciousness, concentration and clear-minded thinking. It’s been proven that 20-minute to 45-minute time intervals can maximize our attention and mental activity, if followed by a short break.” ¹

So, with that being said, if you want to increase the length of your Pomodoros, that’s cool, but it is best not to go longer than 45 minutes before you take a break to recharge your batteries.

How to Improve Yourself Using the Pomodoro Technique

At the conclusion of every day, you can transfer details about your Pomodoros to a hard-copy archive.  As Cirillo says, “What you track and record depends on what you want to observe and the kind of reports you want to generate and what you wish to improve upon.” ¹

By recording and keeping data, it allows you to improve your processes through self-observation. You can see how long you spend on certain tasks, how long certain tasks take, how many Pomodoros you complete on different days of the week etc.

You can also use it to estimate how long certain tasks take. One way to do this is by estimating how long you think it will take beforehand. Then after you are done, you can see how many Pomodoros it took and not the difference between expected and actual.

Perhaps I see that it takes me a certain amount of Pomodoros to write an average blog post. That may seem like too many and I may want to improve my writing process to reduce the time I spend writing a blog post. This may cause me to ask questions related to my writing process such as “How activities can I cut out?”, “What activities are not adding value?”, and “How can I reorganize how I do things to do them faster?”.

Protecting the Pomodoro – Handling Interruptions

An extremely useful part of Cirillo’s book was on how to deal with interruptions, as they can become a real problem when using the Pomodoro technique. He discussed two types of interruptions: internal and external.

Internal Interruptions

These types of interruptions are self-inflicted.  There are many examples of this type of interruption such as wanting to grab something to drink, checking your email or social media, making a call, going to the restroom, etc. Cirillo’s advice is to write an apostrophe on the sheet where you record your Pomodoros, then under your task list write down what you wanted to do. Then you can simply do it at the end of your Pomodoro or not do it at all if it’s not important.

External Interruptions

External interruptions occur when we are interrupted by others. Of course, if it is an emergency, you will need to handle it. But most external interruptions are not emergencies and can be easily handled. If you are interrupted by a person, you can simply let them know you are in the middle of something and will get back to them. Similarly as you did for internal interruptions, make a dash where you record your Pomodoros, then under your task list write down the nature of the interruption and how you will need to handle it.

Combining it with Batching and Best Time of Day

Let’s now leverage what we have learned in previous posts to enhance our use of the Pomodoro technique.

Batching

If you find that you have tasks that take several minutes to complete, you may want to utilize a method called batching which involves grouping similar tasks together. This way you aren’t wasting time jumping from task to task. For example, setting a time block for doing emails instead of doing them at all different times.

Best Time of Day

You may want to organize your Pomodoros by the nature of work to be done.

As we discussed in a previous post, according to Daniel Pink, there is a best time of day to do things.

There are 3 stages we all go through doing the day: peak, trough, and recovery.

The peak is the start of the day when you have the most energy and are most vigilant and focused, this is when he recommends scheduling your analytic work.

The trough is right after lunch where you have energy and feel sluggish, this is when to schedule your administrative work.

The recovery stage is later in the afternoon where he recommends working on tasks requiring creativity.

If you are a night owl, simply reverse the stages.

The idea is to do your Pomodoros at the best time of day to maximize your effectiveness.

After Walking Him Through the Pomodoro Technique…

…my mentee asked a great question.

“So, let me get this correct if I complete 8 Pomodoros between 8 am and noon, that means I am more productive by noon than the average person is all day and go home after lunch.”

I said: “Technically you are correct, but I don’t think your boss is going to buy it!”

Until next time, use the Pomodoro technique and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.

Use it or Lose It – The Pomodoro Technique

To make the Pomodoro technique actionable, do the following:

  Choose the tasks or work you want to accomplish. Pick your top 2 or 3 that would make your day a success.

  Write them down.

  Set the timer (Pomodoro) for 25 minutes.

  Engage in focused work free of distractions. No emails, no cell phone, no phone calls, no social media – nothing!

  Take a short 5-minute break to rest your mind – get up and walk around. Get away from the computer or desk!

  Repeat the work and rest periods 3 more times.

  Take a longer break, 15-30 minutes.

  Do as many Pomodoros as you feel comfortable with each day (and as many as your schedule allows).

  Experiment with the length of the Pomodoro and the rest period. Just like interval training, some of us need more rest between intervals, some work better with longer work sessions.  The important thing is to give your mind breaks and to make sure you don’t get distracted while you are working.

  Make sure you use the timer to keep you accountable and focused.

  Use it in conjunction with my recent best time of day post. You can use it during the peak to get even more out of your focused work.  Or use it during the trough to get more administrative stuff done.  Finally, use it during the recovery when you are working on creative stuff.

When to Use It 

There are many areas where you can use the Pomodoro method:

 At work
  Studying
  Getting tasks done around the house
  Anywhere you need to do focused work!

What Do You Think? 

Have you used the Pomodoro technique in your life?  Can you see yourself using it? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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References

1 The Pomodoro Technique by Francesco Cirillo

2 https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/in-an-8-hour-day-the-average-worker-is-productive-for-this-many-hours.html

https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/in-an-8-hour-day-the-average-worker-is-productive-for-this-many-hours.html