Pomodoro Technique
The Italian Secret To Working More Intensely
A commonly known technique for increasing the intensity of your work while overcoming procrastination is the Pomodoro Technique which was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It is a simple, yet powerful method that allows you to incorporate the basic intuitions behind concepts like the Pareto Principle or Parkinson’s Law into your work(days). Here’s how it works.
- You pick one task to work on
- You start a timer of 25 minutes and start working without distractions or breaks
- Once the time is up, you take a 5-minute break
- You go back to step 1 until you’ve completed 2–4 iterations
- Congrats! You finished your first Pomodoro session
But why would one use such a technique? For me, there are three benefits to it. Firstly, it forces me to consciously pick a bite-sized task to work on for a maximum of 25 minutes. Especially if there’s a big project I need to work on, breaking it down into smaller chunks is the best way to get started. Secondly, the intensity with which I work increases significantly. The moment I start the timer is the moment I go into full focus mode and tend to forget the world around me. Of course, this didn’t happen from day one but I was able to build up this discipline over time. Thirdly, it helps me beat procrastination consistently. The hardest part about any task is getting started. Making this smallest first step as easy as starting a timer, allows me to overcome my limbic system telling me to seek comfort at the moment.
Don’t want to work on your own? There are even tons of youtube videos today in the format of “work with me Pomodoro style” which you can use to get a little extra motivation to keep working. So in conclusion, if there’s only one method I could point to that allowed me to increase my efficiency when working on things, it’s the Pomodoro technique.
