“Pomodoro” is an Italian word for “tomato”. Around the 1980s, a university student named Francesco Cirillo, first introduced this study-productivity hack, today known to us as the Pomodoro Technique. Francesco used a tomato shaped kitchen timer to break apart his tasks into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length along with a 5-minute short break. Pomodoro is a great productivity technique if you find yourself a prey to procrastination. Little distractions like checking your phone or open-ended tasks that take unlimited amounts of time to complete, can derail you from your schedule. Ultimately, you end up with frustration and a lingering feeling of incompletion and loss of efficiency.
Pomodoro Technique helps you gamify your goal setting, so that you enjoy an overly optimistic yet efficient day. This method transforms your concept of time, from a negative to positive; Cirillo terms it as “inverting time” because it alters the perception of time passing from an abstract source of unrequired anxiety to a precise measure of efficiency.
How To Use The Pomodoro Timer?
Pomodoros are really simple and easy to use, a few steps below will help you get back to work. Let’s dig deep into it.
- Select the task which you want to get done today.
- Set a timer for 25 minutes.
- When the alarm rings, take a break for 5 minutes
- Reset the timer to another 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break.
- When you have completed four pomodoros, take a 15-30 minutes break.
- Tick the task done and restart the Pomodoro with your next task.
Will The Pomodoro Technique Work For Me?
Yes! Large tasks are often quite tedious, thus requiring a ton of motivation and productivity to get moving. However, breaking the task into smaller chunks mediated by regular short intervals works like a charm. Tasks become more manageable. This momentum of productivity and goal achievement that you attain using the Pomodoro Technique, continues throughout the day. Train your brain to focus without burning out.
Best Pomodoro Timer Apps
Here is a list of one of the best Pomodoro Timer Apps, both for Desktop and Mobile Phones:
- Focus Keeper (available on iOS)
- PomoDone (Desktop & Mobile App)
- Focus To-Do: Pomodoro Timer & To Do List (Desktop & Mobile App)
- Marinara Timer (Web-based Pomodoro Timer)
- Pomodoro (Web-based Pomodoro Timer)
- Toggl Track (Pomodoro with time-tracking)
- Forest (Mobile Pomodoro timer)