I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: deep down inside, I’m one lazy bastard. But there’s a lot I want to do with my life. So I’ve spent countless hours obsessed with becoming more productive and learning how to make the most of my time.
I’ve tried everything from GTD to fancy iPhone task managers. I’ve implemented Merlin Mann’s e-mail rules, hacked my Moleskine, even developed my own system with a stopwatch.
So I’ve managed to turn my lazy ass into a fairly productive one, but I still always felt like something was missing.
Well, not anymore. I found that missing piece and now everything is finally clicking. It’s called The Pomodoro Technique and I think I’m in love. Let me introduce you.
How to Use the Pomodoro Technique in 6 Easy Steps
1) Get a kitchen timer. If you have an iPhone, get PomodoroPro. If you’re on a Mac, use FocusBooster or free ebook, but this is really all you need to get going.
Why It Works
Alright, I know what you’re thinking: “This sounds stupidly simple,” or, “25 minutes is too short,” or maybe, “Breaks? Who needs breaks? I’m a beast!”
Trust me, I thought the same way at first. But then I actually started using the system and realized all these things were what made it so damn awesome.
“This sounds retardedly simple” – You’re right, the Pomodoro Technique is really freakin’ simple, but that’s a good thing. Instead of wasting all your time trying to learn the system and tinkering with it (*cough* GTD *cough*), you spend your time actually getting shit done.
“25 minutes is too short” – It feels that way, huh? 25 minutes sounds like nothing. It’s so non-intimidating, you can look at your meanest, scariest project right in the face and say, “Work on you for only 25 minutes? Pshhh, I can handle that. Let’s do this.”
Even the most overwhelming and stressful projects don’t seem that bad when you cut them up into 25 minute chunks – just focus on one Pomodoro at a time and you’ll be done before you know it.
And while one Pomodoro is short enough to not overwhelm you, it’s long enough to actually get a good chunk of work done. It’s the perfect time interval.
“Breaks? Who needs breaks? I’m a beast!” – Yeah this was me too. I thought breaks were for the weak. But after using the Pomodoro Technique, breaks are my new religion.
Breaks make my work better. At first, I had to force myself to take those 5 minute breaks. But I started to realize that every time I returned to my desk, I came back with two things:
1) Fresh perspective – When you’re working intensely on something, it’s really easy to get lost in the trees and miss the whole forest. By taking a break, you’re forcing yourself to take a step back from your work. To see the big picture.
2) New ideas – When you take a break, you’re giving your brain a chance to breathe and do it’s own thing without you getting in the way. It’s assimilating all the information you’ve been taking in and figuring out solutions to your problems without you even knowing it.
This is when the best ideas come to us – when we’re taking showers or sitting underneath apple trees – not when we’re smashing our heads against the desk.
Breaks keep me from burning out. Look, it’s not about how many hours you put in – it’s about how effective you are. And if you want to stay effective throughout an entire day, you need to pace yourself. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
If I ever start to skip breaks, I notice right away. My attention starts to drift. I feel an urge to check Facebook and Reddit. Work becomes an endless chore. Do these symptoms sound familiar? You might be suffering from a case of burnout. Start pacing yourself and this’ll go away.
How It’s Affected Me
Straight up, the Pomodoro Technique is awesome. I’ve only been using it for two weeks but it’s already made a huge impact in my life. Here are some of the changes I’ve noticed:
I’m getting a ton of shit done without feeling stressed out. This month has been absolutely insane work-wise. When this would happen in the past, I’d turn into a wreck. I’d stress out all day and night. I’d skip workouts and meals. I’d forget what the sun looks like. Trust me, it wasn’t pretty.
But this time, thanks to the Pomodoro Technique, I’ve been effortlessly handling this crazy workload without losing my sanity. Hallelujah! I still have time for the gym and a social life. And I feel completely on top of everything and stress-free.
No more Mindless Drift. You know what I’m talking about. It’s getting late, your energy is lagging and your eyes are glazing over. You automatically click over to Facebook/Twitter/Reddit and just start clicking on stuff just to click on it. You’re not even enjoying it and you know you’re wasting your time, but you can’t stop.
This Mindless Drift makes you feel like shit while also completely killing your productivity. And it happens to the best of us.
Ever since I started using the Pomodoro Technique, this problem has disappeared. The only time Mindless Drift rears its ugly head these days is when I fall off the Pomodoro – not setting timers and ignoring my breaks.
I’m fully convinced that Mindless Drift is a symptom of burning yourself out and losing your focus. Two things that the Pomodoro Technique was designed to handle. Screw you Mindless Drift, we’re through!
My time is finally accountable. This might be my favorite thing about the system. Never again will you wonder at the end of a day, “Where the hell did my time go?” With this system, I just take one look at the X’s I’ve marked and can instantly see how I spent my time.
And now I have a clear idea of how long it takes me to do stuff. For example, this blog post took 16 X’s to finish, about 8 hours in total. I know, I’m a slow ass writer, but I’m working on it. Next time, I’ll try to do it in less X’s.
One of my biggest problems was that I always underestimated how long it would take me to do stuff. But now, with the X’s staring me in the face, I have to be more honest with myself. I’ve pretty much stopped saying, “Just give me 5 minutes…” because I know it’ll take me longer.
A Few Pomodoro Tips
Get the free ebook and read the entire thing (it should take only 2 Pomodoro’s). It’s packed with a bunch more information and I highly suggest you implement some of their ideas – mainly Pomodoro Estimations and Dealing with Interruptions. These two will change your productivity game, I promise you.
Set your first Pomodoro of the day for planning your day. It helps so much to have a clear idea of what your day’s going to look like. You’ll also get better at not over-scheduling yourself because you’ll start to figure out how many X’s you can realistically get done in a day.
Make sure your timer is always visible. You need to be able to quickly glance over and see how much time you have. Both the PomodoroPro app and FocusBooster have always on-screen graphical timers and are perfect for this.
Keep the ticking audible. It might be annoying at first, but you’ll get used to it and it’ll keep you in the zone. It subtly reminds you that you’re in work mode and will keep you from drifting off and getting distracted.
Schedule a Pomodoro for all your normal time-wasters ( Facebook, Twitter, buying stuff on Amazon, etc.) instead of letting them constantly interrupt your day.
Use your breaks to get away from the computer. If you’re like me and have to do 95% of your work in front of a screen, use break time to unplug yourself. I like to walk around and listen to music or go outside and read a book. This helps me feel way more refreshed and ready to tackle the next Pomodoro.
So obviously I’m a little infatuated with the Pomodoro Technique, but can you blame me? It’s literally taken my productivity to a whole new level. I can’t imagine getting stuff done without it now.
Whether you’ve tried every productivity system under the sun or have never made a to-do list in your life, the Pomodoro Technique might be perfect for you. Give it a shot and let me know how it works out.
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As you can tell from this post, the last few weeks of my life have been solely focused on productivity…but I’ve been digging it. I needed this after the craziness that was Colombia. I think everyone could use a little bit of healthy hibernation from time to time.
And I know that things are about to get crazy again cause I’m heading to New York at the end of the month. I’m gonna sublet and see what it’s like to live there for a few months and I’m really stoked. I’m looking forward to focusing on music more and seeing if I can buildup a network of like-minded creatives.
Can’t wait. But until then, I’m gonna be in get-shit-done mode. Speaking of which, my Pomodoro is about to end. Hell yeah, I love break time.
