Created by Francesco Cirillo (a student at the time), the Pomodoro Technique is a time management technique that revolves around working for periods of time, separated by breaks.

The technique is one of the most popular productivity/time management techniques because of its simplicity and effectiveness.

In this blog post, we will look at what the Pomodoro technique is, why it works, and how. In the end, we will also look at some tools you can use to maintain this practice.

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

When a student, Francesco Cirillo, was overwhelmed with his assignments and struggling to focus, he decided to commit to 10 minutes of studying without any distractions.

He used a tomato-shaped timer to do it, hence the name Pomodoro.

To put it briefly, the Pomodoro technique emphasizes creating short and manageable time blocks of work (usually 25 minutes) separated by breaks.

As people become used to the system, they usually increase the duration of the work blocks.

And those who work for four or more Pomorodoro time blocks are encouraged to take a 15-30 minute break after every four blocks.

Why does the Pomodoro Technique work?

The method is one of the most popular productivity methods in the market, and for good reasons too.

  1. It is super easy to get started; literally, anyone can get started anytime by looking at their watch or mobile.

  2. It reduces the anxiety around being overwhelmed by large tasks or mandates since most people would be fine with committing 25 minutes.

  3. Single-tasking is a prominent feature of the method since it forces you to focus on one task for 25 minutes instead of constantly context-switching.

  4. It helps reduce procrastination since the period is fixed and small; it excludes many excuses like being "busy" or "not having enough time."

How does the Pomodoro technique work?

Implementing the Pomodoro technique can be as simple as looking at your watch and giving yourself a goal of working on a task until 25 minutes have passed.

Or you can take a more structured route which we recommend. So here is the Pomodoro Technique (step-by-step):

  1. List your tasks on Routine (Preferably Routine Pages).

  2. Chunk similar tasks into batches.

  3. Prioritize the batches based on their importance.

  4. If a batch can take more than 25 minutes, split them to fit each sub-batch into a 25-minute time slot.

  5. Add the first batch (most important) to Routine Calendar at the beginning of the day and follow the importance hierarchy.

  6. Add a 5-minute break between each 25-minute time block and a 15-minute break for every 4th-time block.

  7. Work on only the task that is assigned to the time block

This is how simple the Pomodoro technique is, and by following our recommended route, you are now more likely to finish the tasks that move the needle first before moving on to low-priority ones.

Tools for implementing the Pomodoro Technique

The most obvious one is Routine, where you can do everything from listing your tasks, ranking them, assigning them time blocks on your calendar, etc. You can sign up for access to Routine here.

But if you want just a simple 25-minute timer, then here are some suggestions:

Conclusion

The Pomodoro Technique is simple enough for anyone to implement and effective enough to give you results almost immediately. So go ahead and try it out and let us know how it went on Twitter (@RoutineHQ).

Thanks for reading.