How I adapted the Pomodoro Technique to myself
No time to read
I love reading! There are so many more books I am interested in starting, exploring and really diving into. You will agree of course, that to read you need the time! Time often flies by, and can be difficult to find. I am a Mom of 3, with a full to-do list every day and a thousand things to think about. Reading often then comes at the end of the day when I begin blinking and nodding off.
However, once, I found myself with 30 minutes of free time ahead, which was great! While trying to decide which book to read from the three in front of me, I thought... Why not the three of them, simultaneously? Why not set my mobile phone timer and split my 30 minutes into three 10 minutes sections dedicating 10 minutes to enjoying each book. So, that is what I did! I admit, that it was only a few bites of these books, but at last I was reading them, getting ahead in each of them. The fact there was no longer a stack of unread books gave me a little bit of satisfaction!
Later while discussing this with a friend, she told me about a technique of time management called the “Pomodoro Technique” and I realized I had already adopted this technique without even realizing it.
The Pomodoro Technique: what is it?
The technique was invented in the eighties by Francesco Cirillo (developer and owner of a consulting business) during his university studies. His idea was to improve his time management, be better focus on his work to revise and so be more efficient. He used a timer (for the record, one with a tomato shape, Pomodoro in Italian) to break his time of work down in 4 sessions of 25 minutes with small breaks between them and a longer one after. The short periods of 25 minutes are called Pomodoro.
He found that having short but intense intervals of work with regulars breaks improves the ability to fully focus and concentrate on work. This is where the technique can benefit students with hours of course revision and studies.
Flexible Pomodoro
The good news here is that we can apply or adapt this technique to any activities or work that we have. Whether it is reading, as mentioned above or writing, drawing, painting, housework or accounting! It can be applied to almost any task.
All these things that you don't have the time for, but need to be done. Depending on individual context of course, but surely we can find time pockets of 10, 20 or perhaps 30 minutes. [1] You can then apply the same principle of breaking down your time into short sections, deciding tasks you would like to work on during each section before you begin, setting the timer and off you go!
At the end, you may not have finished your whole article, or painting but you will have moved forward in whatever task you had set out to work on, fullfilled some goals and stopped procrastinating! What a satisfying feeling!
Pomodoro tools
The old-fashioned way of the Pomodoro approach, was to keep track with a pen and a timer, writing down each completed session. Guess what?! You can still do it this way, and why not utilise your planner with some lovely stickers or doodles! You can also do it using your computer, tablet or phone. Apps such as Be Focused – Focus Timer or Focus To-Do or Forest - Stay focused, be present.
You will also find a lot of results for "Pomodoro timers Online" in your search engine. Some of my favorites are the beautiful and musical Nesto Pomodoro Timer and the very simple and practical Pomodoro Timer Online - Pomofocus.
Hundreds of websites and plenty of motivational Youtube "Study with me" videos are also dedicated to this technique. Inspiration is not lacking!
Moving forward
Therefore, whatever the means, the time we have, however short, can be adapted using this inspirational technique. We can then move forward on our own activities, whatever they are. In addition, this will help remove frustration of accumulated uncompleted items, or tasks we never get round to starting. At last, planner lovers, what a delight it is to tick the to-do box, or add in a sticker to our planner or bullet journal to simply say, done, accomplished!
So set your timer and go! And I would love to read your own experience and ideas!
Disclaimer: The recommendations are not sponsored and are of our own initiative. On the other hand the pomodoro stickers, we recommend them highly 😜
[1] I recommend to read: What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast from Laura Vanderkam, 2012.
Comment
Congratulations on your first blog post. A blog is something I dream of one day creating! I too use the 🍅 method, but not consistently- ADHD is not conducive to follow-through. You have inspired me to try again. Thank you and I look forward to visiting again.