Pomodoro technique: a working time management tool. Pomodoro - a timer that will make you the king of productivity

Time management is a key success factor. It is very important to learn how to plan your day in order to complete important tasks on time, without being distracted by minor and unimportant ones. But how to do that? Time management will help, namely one of its techniques, the Pomodoro method. Let's get to know him better.

History of appearance

The Pomodoro method was invented by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s. As a student, the young man devoted a lot of time to studying, but still did not achieve significant success and studied worse than most of his classmates. After analyzing his failures, Francesco came to the conclusion that it was all due to distractions that prevented him from concentrating on important matters. And he came up with original way solution to the problem - he made a “deal” with himself, according to the terms of which he had to engage exclusively in training for 10 minutes. He timed it using a kitchen timer made in the shape of a tomato, and it was he who gave the technique its original name.

The story goes that the young man was unable to defeat himself, but he liked the “sprints” technique itself and began to develop it. Over time, the cunning technique helped Francesco achieve success in his studies, and then in his work. The technique attracted the interest of others, which was the reason for the appearance of the book “The Pomodoro Method,” which was published in 2006. Gradually, Cirillo's idea began to spread and found wide application in various industries and areas.

Description of the technique

Pomodoro method with timer - the secret rational organization labor process. It involves dividing working time into several segments, alternating hard work and rest. This helps the brain focus on solving important problems without being distracted by minor ones.

So, work time is divided into sprints called “pomodoros”. Their duration is 25 minutes. It is very important to set a timer so as not to miss the end of the period. At this time, you need to work hard, not allowing yourself to be distracted. This is followed by a 5-minute break. Then another sprint for 25 minutes of labor. After completing 4 pomodoros, you can rest for 15 minutes.

Advantages

Using the Pomodoro Technique is an effective and efficient way to manage your time. Thus, working hard and focused in 25-minute sprints over 2-3 hours is more productive than using the standard 6-7 hour approach. This fact has been proven. The following advantages can also be noted:

• The work was completed efficiently and on time.
• The brain is not overloaded with solving minor issues.
• Thanks to the rational alternation of work and rest, overwork does not occur.
• Allows you to cope with the main enemy of efficiency - distracted attention.

The Pomodoro method is a great way to not only quickly solve basic problems, but also to develop self-discipline.

Flaws

Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to divide their working day into a series of segments that involve alternating work and rest. Thus, operators of popular hotlines are forced to take calls throughout their entire shift and cannot take a break every 25 minutes. The same applies to salespeople in stores and other service personnel.

Also, people in creative professions will not be able to use the Pomodoro method in time management, because much of their work depends on inspiration, which, as we know, does not come at certain hours.

But in general, the technique has proven to be valid and helps many people solve the problem of rational organization of working time.

How to use?

The Pomodoro method involves the following sequence of actions:

• Selecting a task to implement which efforts will be directed.
• Set the timer for 25 minutes. You can use any device - alarm clock, electronic signal on cell phone. In general, everything that is at hand.
• After this, you should begin to work hard and focused to bring your goal closer to completing the intended task. In the first stages, you can help yourself by eliminating distractions - turn off the music or movie, log out of your accounts in social networks, mute the sound mobile phone. This sprint should be devoted entirely to work for all 25 minutes. You shouldn’t constantly glance at the clock - the timer itself will notify you that the “pomodoro” has come to an end.
• When you hear the timer signal, you can relax for exactly 5 minutes. It’s better to use this time productively: get up, do a few simple exercises, go to the window, breathe fresh air, pour yourself a mug of tea.
• Then everything is repeated in a circle: 25 minutes of intense work, 5 minutes of rest. After making 4 circles, you can take a longer rest of 15 minutes. The second version of the program is 5 full “pomodoros”, after which there is a break for half an hour. This time can be used for lunch.

If you do everything in full accordance with the methodology, very soon you will notice positive result: in 2 cycles it will be possible to do the amount of work that previously took a whole work shift, and 3-4 cycles will bring double productivity. Plus - you don't have to worry about overwork.

Secrets of the technique

It has been scientifically proven that the brain is most efficient for 25 minutes, then this figure drops. Therefore, the Pomodoro method involves taking full advantage of this fact. When your brain gets tired, you should take a break rather than sit and suffer trying to force yourself to work.

25 minutes is the recommended time and is an average. If it’s difficult to concentrate at first, you can set yourself a timer for 15-20 minutes, gradually increasing the time by 5 minutes until the desired indicator is achieved. Efficient people can take on large amounts of work at once, doing their “pomodoro” lasting up to 45 minutes. However, there is very important condition: all the scheduled time should be devoted to solving a specific task; other things and the whole world around seem to cease to exist until the timer signal.

You can also do it relatively freely intermittently. If 5 minutes is not enough, they can be extended to 10-15, but it is important to remember: by increasing the duration of rest, you reduce your own productivity and extend the working day. Therefore, a longer pause between sprints should be justified.

Using the Pomodoro Method helps you organize more efficiently and effectively. own time, focusing on the solution important issues. The work process becomes many times more productive. The Pomodoro method program is quite simple to implement; it does not require any special knowledge or skills; you just need to show willpower and endurance at first, forcing yourself to work. Gradually this will become a habit.

Many people wonder how to increase their productivity? Today there are many who devote more than the required 40 hours a week to work, depriving themselves of the opportunity to communicate with their family, engage in a favorite activity or hobby. As a consequence of this, complaints arise about lack of time and large amounts of work. But the reason for this problem, it seems to me, is completely different: we do not know how to effectively use time and concentrate on solving one problem.

Have you encountered similar problem? Today in the article we will talk about organizing working time and increasing your productivity during the day with the help of a simple but very effective technology Pomodoro or Pomodoro technique.

Inventor t Pomodoro techniques became Italian Francesco Cirillo and the technique received this name thanks to the use of a kitchen timer in the shape of a tomato.

What problem does the Pomodoro technique solve?

Purpose of the Pomodoro Technique- learn to work concentratedly and consists of alternating 25 minutes of work on one task and 5 minutes of rest.

A pomodoro is a 25-minute period of focused, concentrated work on one task followed by a 5-minute rest.

Pomodoro = work 25 minutes + rest 5 minutes

Basic Pomodoro Technique Tools

To use the Pomodoro (tomato) technique we will need:

• “Task List” sheet— to record all incoming cases and tasks as they arise;

• sheet “Plan for today”— a list of tasks for today, arranged in accordance with your priorities;

• “Archive” sheet— to collect data on the effectiveness and efficiency of your actions;

• timer

Follow the rules of the Pomodoro technique

Rules for the Pomodoro Technique:

• We do not divide or break the tomato;
• in case of forced interruption, the Pomodoro starts again. A broken tomato is not counted;
• a task of more than 5-7 tomatoes needs to be divided into several subtasks;
• tasks smaller than one tomato are grouped into more than one;
• each tomato must bring a specific result

How it works?

Step-by-step algorithm for the Pomodoro technique:

What to do if you didn’t have time to complete the task?

Often, especially when first using the Pomodoro technique, it turns out that you didn’t plan enough time to solve a particular problem. For example, the task “Checking and signing a contract” took not one tomato, as planned, but two. Then in our “Plan for Today” sheet, opposite this task we put a circle (additional unplanned pomodoro) and a circle sign with a cross, in case of completing an additional unplanned pomodoro.

How to deal with distractions?

It would seem like an ideal work schedule, but then “one time” and distractions burst into our smooth work - the phone rang, a colleague came running with an invitation to tea, notifications appeared Email or an unexpected thought just came to mind... What to do in this case, how to combine forced interruptions in work and completing assigned tasks?

Pomodoro technique solves the problem of focusing on a task and offers the following algorithm of actions upon receipt of interruptions (distractions) from internal and external sources:

Let's look at the use of this algorithm for clarity using our to-do list as an example.

From the “Task List,” you selected the tasks that you intend to complete today and wrote them down in order of priority in the “Plan for Today.” We estimated how many tomatoes each task would require and began to complete the first task, setting a timer for 25 minutes.

At some point, you receive a call to the company's management - this is an interruption from an external source that you cannot cancel. Therefore, we stop the execution of the current task, stop the timer and put “-” in the box of the canceled pomodoro. We go to the boss and receive an urgent order from him to prepare a response to the letter within the current hour.

Let's go back to workplace, in the “Plan for today” sheet in the “Not planned and urgent” section, write down the urgent task that has arrived, estimate how many tomatoes are needed to solve it, set a timer for 25 minutes and start executing it.

After solving the urgent task, we return to the previous task - “Control orders.”

You successfully complete this task, having spent 2 tomatoes on it as planned, and moved on to the next task - “Check and sign the contract for the provision of services.”

When completing the first pomodoro of this task, a colleague comes into your office asking for help sorting out a report. This is an external interruption that you can postpone by explaining to your colleague that you will fulfill his request in 20 minutes (that’s exactly how much time you have left until the completion of the Pomodoro you started).

We put a dot over the broken tomato in the “Plan for today” sheet, ask ourselves the question: “Does this need to be done today?” In view of the fact that you promised your colleague that you would help him, we write down the received task in the “Plan for today” sheet in the “Not planned and urgent” section, ensuring that we remember the promise and continue to complete the current task of the current task until the timer rings. Then we place an “X” in the square of the completed tomato.

Despite the fact that the problem is not completely solved, but you made a promise to a colleague, after a five-minute rest we go to the colleague to provide assistance. Tasks that are performed jointly with someone are not always useful to measure in terms of tomatoes. In this case, the decision was made not to measure the problem. Having fulfilled our promise to our colleague, we begin to solve problems according to the “Plan for Today”.

While performing the next task, you remember that you wanted to clean up your desk drawer - this is an internal interruption. We put a dot over the current pomodoro, the timer continues to run and ask ourselves the question: “Does this need to be completed today?”
If it is not necessary to complete a task immediately, then we write this task down in the “Task List” sheet and, if necessary, set a deadline for its completion, then continue to complete the current task and follow the “Plan for Today”.

In this way, you “protect” your tomato (thus the execution of the task) from interruption, and also:

• continue to focus on the current task,
• follow your plan
• don't forget about incoming tasks

What does a working day look like?

The Pomodoro technique highlights two special tomatoes:

1. organizational
2. final

Organizational tomato includes the actions you take at the beginning of the day to set up your workflow (checking email, looking at your diary and task lists, planning your day, preparing your desk, having a cup of tea with colleagues, etc.). The main purpose of an organizational pomodoro is to combine all systematic distractions into one pomodoro.

Final tomato designed for summing up and analyzing the past day, planning the next day.

In general, a working day might look like this:

What does the Pomodora technique give us?

1. Focusing attention on one task, increasing attention, removing interruptions
2. Work statistics. It tracks how much time it takes to solve problems (a kind of timing) and how many problems are solved.
3. Productivity assessment: how many tomatoes were made per day, week, etc.
4. The skill of forecasting time spent on execution different types tasks. Every day we note how many tomatoes were spent on solving problems, the realism of planning increases.
5. Helps organize work time

The article illustrated the use of the Pomodoro technique using a simple timer and paper forms. If you are a fan of using electronic tools, today there is a wide range of electronic applications and Pomodoro programs that automate most equipment and will provide a lot useful information for analysis and self-improvement in the topic of working time management.

Are you ready to go out new level planning and increase your productivity? Then start your first pomodoro right now and it will be YOUR DECISION!

Read: 1,589

The Pomodoro technique is the easiest way to record working time and increases our productivity. It requires a minimum of accessories:

• timer - any;
• plan for the day.

Today there are a lot of applications that work using this technique, but beginners can use a simple timer on their phone or a kitchen time control tool.

What is the Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro technique is one of the elements of time management for effective time control. The essence of the method is dividing time into small convenient intervals, during which only one work task is solved. One time period = one pomodoro.

Why "Pomodoro". This name was given to the time control system by Francesco Cerillo, who was looking for effective way to improve academic performance at university and found it using a kitchen timer in the shape of a tomato.

Classic version of Pomodorro suggests using 25 minutes to work, then taking a 5-minute break, and after four blocks resting for half an hour. This option is considered the standard because:

• minimizes the likelihood of being distracted by something extraneous;
• maintains concentration on the chosen task;
• increases efficiency and productivity.

But! The intense rhythm of life and huge busyness dictates its own rules, forcing you to increase the time of “tomatoes” more and more. And the question arises: what kind of efficiency should it be?

How long does a proper pomodoro last?

There is no single correct answer to this question. Someone can concentrate and work for 40-50 minutes without a break, while for another person their efficiency decreases after half an hour of working time. To find out the most effective range using the Pomodoro technique, you should:

• conduct several test days;
• work in different modes every day;
• increase the “pomodoro” every day by 5 or 10 minutes;
• choose the optimal pace of work for yourself.

Freelancers who use Pomodoro on a regular basis say that the best productivity scheme is 50-10 or 50-5-5. In the first case, 50 minutes are allocated for work, 10 for coffee or rest; the second option is more correct from a health point of view: 50 – work, 5 – sports break, 5 – other rest.

How to take breaks?

The changes in the Pomodoro technique are quite small, but they can be used very effectively. To make it easier to return to work later, it is recommended to spend the break on:

• a cup of tea/coffee;
• to wash with cool water;
• for a sports break;
• short phone call.

What you definitely shouldn't do:

• take a book - especially for those who love reading;
• check messengers;
• go to social networks or forums.

That is, practice for 5-10 minutes not worth it because it can easily take away hours of useful time.

Distractions on "tomatoes"

No one can work perfectly evenly. Therefore, situations invariably occur when the current “pomodoro” is interrupted. What to do in this case? The decision determines the reason for the interruption. The most popular interference:

• Call, message, letter in the mail. The solution is to turn off the sound, turn the phone over, close or turn off instant messengers.
• An unexpected idea about work, plans, relaxation. The solution is to write the idea down in an organizer or on a piece of paper and continue working.
• Children, relatives, colleagues. The solution is to stop the “pomodoro”, get distracted, quickly deal with the issue and return to work.

The Pomodoro technique is not a strict absolute that cannot be violated, but using it on an ongoing basis you can notice:

• that matters are resolved faster and more efficiently;
• More and more points of the plan are being closed;
• manages to concentrate even on very complex tasks;
• the quality of work improves.

Today, many software tools have been invented to work with Pomodoro technology that allow you to plan, analyze, and optimize work.

What to do, if….

When you just start working with “tomatoes,” questions inevitably arise. Let's try to look at typical problems.

What to do if the timer is ticking and the case is over?

It all depends on the case. You can either check the thoroughness of its implementation or, if the end is complete and there is nothing to control, move on to another matter.

What to do if things are big, more than allotted “pomodoro” time?

Divide the lesson into stages and assign each stage its own “pomodoro”. Or increase the period of working time to the desired interval - for example, from 25 minutes to 40 or 50.

What to do if interrupted?

Stop the timer, resolve the issue and return to fulfilling the plan by starting a new “pomodoro”.

Is it possible to divide tomatoes into quarters and halves?

No you can not. It is better to reduce the work time or include two tasks in one “pomodoro”.

I'm waiting for other questions in the comments!

What's good about a timer?

An ordinary tomato, or any other kitchen timer, is not an application on the phone. Although an application on a computer or phone will also work. But personally, the real thing on the table works much better for me. You can also order it in the online store if you don’t have time to go look in the hardware departments.

It’s good because it helps you speed up somewhere, do more than you originally planned, somewhere you can relieve your brain and free yourself from some of the decision-making work. In general, it organizes work and helps concentration. Helps fight procrastination.

The Pomodoro classic is to do 20 minute segments. Or 2 segments of 25 and a 10 minute rest.

Here's what exactly and how it helps:

1. Be more focused and productive, speed up.

Of course, this tool, like everything else, gets blurry, and over time it stops working as well as before - it ticks and ticks in the background, and you forget about it.

But you can effectively use it one-time, targeted.

For example, every morning make 3 tomatoes for 15-20 minutes each to work on the most important matter, first of all in the morning. Or working on a new thing - which needs to be significantly promoted or introduced into a habit (studying something, a new project).

Or use it when some important task is burning, and you are drawn to social networks - then you can do as I did when I had to do a large number of work (I described it in the post “What to do when procrastinating”).

“#PRODUCTIVE ENVIRONMENT is a chance to test how much you can actually accomplish during the day if you don’t get distracted, do one task at a time and keep track of time. Every Wednesday at 10:00 Moscow time, come to the group “What can you accomplish in 100 days?” and look for the latest post about Pomodoro."

2. Don’t put things off, don’t do yourself any favors, by removing the burden of making a decision - “to do or not to do?” - just do it.

"Being a warrior is the most effective method live. A warrior doubts and reflects before he makes a decision.

But when it is accepted, he acts without being distracted by doubts, fears and hesitations.

There are millions more decisions ahead, each of which is waiting in the wings. This is the way of the warrior."

Carlos Castaneda.

Let's say you have a lot of things to do in the morning. And at the same time, the house is a mess, you need to answer the mail, and do at least a little exercise. And much more. Everything is very blurred, there is no clarity, there is chaos inside, and it seems that everything is even worse than it is. And if you oversleep, well, the day has just begun, and everything is already gone.

Cleaning comes first. By bringing cleanliness around us, we organize the space, the eye begins to rest in order, calmness appears inside and the belief that the same order will be established in our affairs - positive reinforcement has been done. Well, in general, if somewhere everything has already been put on the shelves with our own hands, then there is already less work left, the process spreads further.

— Set a timer for 15 minutes to clean. The decision is made - just 15 minutes and that’s it. Only while the tomato is ticking and not a minute more. That’s it, you no longer need to worry about whether to do it or not, whether to start cleaning or working on the computer. Maybe 5 minutes. If there is a lot of work, then thanks to the timer, we speed up - we must meet the deadline. If we managed to do it in less than 15 minutes, then we can clean somewhere else where we should have done it a long time ago, but didn’t get around to it – great.

— Set a timer for 10 minutes to charge. That's it, the next decision - “should I do it now, or later, 5 minutes or 45 minutes” - has already been made. The resource has been released. No more throwing around. 10 and that's it. It seems like you’re lazy and don’t have time, but holding out for 5 or 10 minutes of the timer is not that difficult. You can start with 2 minutes. And there, if the desire arises, more is possible.

— We set a timer for 30 minutes to clear mail and small tasks, routine. 30 minutes and that’s it, all the worst things are already done. And there, already in the flow, we easily switch to another job. And we approach the matter more confidently and concentratedly.

3. Remove multitasking

It often seems that by trying to do everything at once, we will save time. But at the same time, to those 2-3 tasks that we think we are doing in parallel, in fact, subtasks and additional tasks are often added. The brain gets overloaded, stops doing everything, gets stuck on one thing, or goes on social networks. Just like a browser on a weak computer, if you open 30 bookmarks at a time, you won’t be able to work with any of them normally, it will be very slow.

Therefore, it is best to take ONE thing and concentrate on it (including all its subtasks) in one period of time, along with the Pomodoro. It has been proven that our brain cannot simultaneously remember more than 7 things (plus or minus 2). And a tired brain works even worse.

4. Free your brain from remembering to do something after a certain period

It’s convenient that if after some interval you need to remove the pan from the stove, call someone, do something, wash the mask off your face - we also set a timer, it ticks, but we forgot with peace of mind - the brain is unloaded for more important thoughts.

Books on using the Pomodoro timer

There is a special book - "Pomodoro Technique" by Francesco Cirillo, who came up with all this. You can easily find it on the Internet.

The book describes a lot of interesting things - the benefits of using this technique, and how and what you can do with it.

Here's from the introduction:

“For many people, time is the enemy. Anxiety caused by the “ticking clock (time passing),” usually when a deadline approaches, leads to ineffectiveness at work and study, which in turn entails a tendency to procrastination (putting things off “for later”).

The Pomodoro Technique was created with the goal of using time as a precious ally. in achieving what we want to achieve, how we want to achieve it and to constantly expand the possibilities of the process of improving our work or study. This description represents the Pomodoro Technique as defined by the author in 1992, which he teaches to use. individuals since 1998 and teams since 1999.

The Context section outlines the time issues, the purpose of the Pomodoro Technique, and the underlying assumptions.

The Material and Method section describes the Pomodoro Technique and shows how to use it to achieve increasingly complex goals.

The Results section provides a series of observations based on the experiences of people using the Technique.

The Conclusion section identifies factors that explain how the Technique achieves its goal. This document presents a general version of the Pomodoro Technique.

The text in the chapter “Applying the Pomodoro Technique in Teams” describes in detail how the technique can be used to work in groups.

Since this is the official book from the creator of this technique, I will give here its table of contents so that you know that the Pomodoro technique is much wider and deeper than it might seem. And many are affected here important points time management and increasing efficiency:

1 Context
1.1. Goals of the Pomodoro Technique
1.2. Basic Assumptions

2 Materials and Methods

2.1. Task I. Determine how much effort is required to complete a task
2.1.1. Launch of the first Pomodoro
2.1.2. Every four Pomodoros
2.1.3. Completing a Task
2.1.4. Recording
2.1.5. Improvement
2.1.6. Nature of the Tomato

2.2. Task II. Stop Distractions
2.2.1. Internal Distractions – We distract ourselves
2.2.2. Example
2.2.3. External distractions - we are distracted
2.2.4. Systematic distractions
2.2.5. Recording: Qualitative assessment planning errors

2.3. Goal III. Estimate the required effort for activities

2.3.1. Available Tomatoes
2.3.2. Possible scenarios
2.3.3. Recording assumptions/estimates
2.3.4. Managing Exploration

2.4. Goal IV. Make Pomodoros More Efficient

2.4.1. Structure of a Pomodoro
2.4.2. Structure of the Pomodoro sequence

2.5. Goal V: Setting/Configuring Schedule

2.5.1. Scenario best option(The Best Case Scenario)
2.5.2. Scenario with distractions
2.5.3. Schedule optimization

2.6. Other possible targets

3 Results

3.1. Studying time
3.2. Duration of Pomodoro
3.3. Varying the duration of breaks
3.4. A different perception of time
3.5. Sounds of Tomatoes
3.5.1. People using Pomodoro
3.5.2. People sharing workspace with Pomodoro
3.6. Tomato Shapes
3.7. Fear of calling
3.8. Constant internal distractions
3.9. The Next Pomodoro Will Be Better
3.10. Mechanical Pomodoro or Program Pomodoros
3.11. Improved Assessment
3.12. Motivation and Pomodoro
3.13. And if everything goes completely wrong
3.14. Pomodoro has a limit
3.15. When not to use Pomodoro

4 Conclusion

4.1. Inverting Time Dependency
4.2. Difficulty/Effort Controls
4.3. Shutdown
4.4. Observation and constant feedback
4.5. Steady pace

Appendix 1: Rules and Glossary
Appendix 2: Plan for Today sheet (To Do Today Sheet)
Appendix 3: Activity Inventory List sheet

I haven’t read this book, it’s only 29 pages, good reviews.

Alternative to a live timer

If you want to try it right now, but don’t have the time or opportunity to buy a live tomato, then there are applications for smartphones and computers.

There are many applications. I have this on my computer - Tomighty.

This application looks like this (minimizes to tray and ticks):

Let me know how you use Pomodoro!

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Productivity at work is important; it allows you to do more useful things in less time. You can develop in different ways and one of the good techniques is Pomodoro.

I didn’t even know what category to put this post in, but I decided to put it in the notes for now. The fact is that productivity- the quality that everyone wants to have. But how to develop it? Unfortunately, not everyone can just sit down and start working productively. What to do in this case?

Perhaps introducing ready-made techniques will help you. Pomodoro Method is one such technique.

The essence of the Pomodoro Method

Entire books have been written about this technique in detail, but I think everything can be explained very briefly. The idea is to work in 25-30 minute chunks, giving yourself short breaks of 3-5 minutes in between. After 3-4 such time periods of work, you can take a long break - 15-30 minutes.

But this is not the most important thing in this method; you need to remember the key principles:

1. You need to clearly set a goal for 25 minutes. It’s good if it’s one, but you can try to set several goals if they are small. Examples of goals:
   • Process a bunch of pictures.
   • Write part of the article.
   • Deal with some problem in the computer.
   That's it, you spend 25 minutes working on your goal.
2. You should not be distracted by anything. This is perhaps even more important. We can be distracted by constant notifications on our smartphone - something has been updated somewhere, you have been sent an SMS, your photo on Facebook has been liked, etc. Most of these notifications are meaningless and have absolutely no importance to you.
   

   Of course, perhaps we shouldn’t go to extremes. If close person will ask you to do something important and urgent, it is better not to refuse him, if possible.

   In general, you can immediately discuss with your family the fact that you will be working at a certain time and it is advisable not to distract you with trifles.
3. We remove procrastination. Okay, you’re already at the computer, no one is distracting you and no notifications are coming to your phone (let’s say it’s in silent mode or you just don’t pay any attention to notifications). Alas, this does not mean that you will be able to work using the Pomodoro technique, because it also implies that while you are already at the computer you You won’t be distracted by anything other than the task at hand.

   And, you see, it’s not easy? There are so many sites around that you might want to go to: find out the result of a past match, read last news, check if anyone has answered your question on some forum/site.

   In my experience, if you don't control it, it just eats up a lot of your time. Then suddenly you remember that the day is already ending and the work is still not done.

   Therefore, the third principle of the Pomodoro technique is productivity directly at the computer. If you need to write an article, then open Word/Google Docs and write. During your 25-minute work, you can open only those sites that will directly help you in compiling material for the article.

How to start using the technique in practice?

It’s quite simple - choose 1 day and test this technique on yourself. If you like the results, then you need to continue to choose days when you work in this way.

And the service will help you with this - http://tomatotimer.ru. This is a ready-made timer in which you set the time for work, short and long breaks. I recommend leaving everything as is, only you can take a longer break, 25-30 minutes.

You ask, Why can’t you work, for example, for 45-50 minutes with breaks? Yes, in principle, it is possible. But in my opinion, the impact will be stronger if you break it down into even shorter segments. There are reasons for this:

1. Firstly, it has been proven that a person can concentrate maximally on something for no more than 30 minutes.
2. Secondly, 10 segments of sitting at the computer for 25 minutes will generally have a better effect on health, it seems to me, than 5 segments of 50 minutes. Everything is simple here - you get up more often, change your body position more often, and this is good.
3. Thirdly, there will be no such fear of work, because the shorter the time it takes to complete it, the easier it is for you to tune in.

Judge for yourself how easier it is to think:

• I need to do a lot of work, for example manually reviewing thousands of pictures. This will take about 6 hours of work.
• I will gradually review these pictures, breaking all the work into several parts, I will look at 100-150 pieces at a time and it will only take 20 minutes.

Of course, it will be easier for your brain to tune in to a hundred pictures than to thousands. In the second case, you may even begin to shirk work due to its enormous, daunting size.

So, the key principle is that it is much easier for us to complete many small jobs than 1 large job.

Conclusion

Try it, if it helps, I'll be glad to help. I'm not super myself effective person, but on some days I produce simply brutal results, managing to do a lot of things and still leave myself some free time. My goal is to try to make all my working days look like this. Good luck!