🍅 Surprising Side Effects of The Pomodoro Technique
Words < 950 - Read time < 5 mins
Introduction
For software developers, it’s essential to maintain focus to be productive.
Staying on track is challenging, with distractions at every turn.
I’ve tried many techniques to improve my focus and productivity.
One of the most powerful is The Pomodoro Technique.
And it comes with some surprising side effects.
Keep reading to find out:
🟢 How it works
🟢 How to use it
🟢 3 surprising side effects.
Key Takeaways 🔑
✅ Implementing The Pomodoro Technique enhances focus and productivity.
✅ The Pomodoro Technique helps break up work into manageable chunks, encourages regular breaks, and helps you stay focused for longer.
✅ The Pomodoro Technique helps overcome procrastination by helping you focus on one thing for a set amount of time, permitting you to stop thinking about everything else.
✅ The Pomodoro Technique come with 3 surprising side effects:
🍅 Improved Wellbeing
🍅 Improved Motivation
🍅 Improved Relationships
The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method to improve focus and productivity.
Francesco Cirillo developed it in the late 1980s.
You break work into intervals called "Pomodoros".
Each Pomodoro lasts 25 minutes.
During each Pomodoro, you focus on a single task until the timer rings.
After completing a Pomodoro, you take a 5-minute break to recharge before starting the next one.
Every four Pomodoros, you take a longer break, typically 15-30 minutes, to rest and rejuvenate.
By understanding and implementing The Pomodoro Technique, you can optimise your workflow and achieve greater efficiency.
Procrastination & Distractions
It’s challenging to overcome procrastination and avoid distractions.
The Pomodoro Technique forces you to choose one task for a set amount of time.
Choosing one task for a set time helps you focus and avoid distractions.
It permits you to focus on one task and forget everything else because you know it’ll still be there 25 minutes from now…
We often procrastinate when a task feels too big.
By committing to 25 minutes of work, the goal becomes ‘progress’ instead of ‘completion’, making the task far less daunting.
Tip: 👉 Sometimes, committing to as little as 5 minutes can massively reduce the anxiety of getting started.
Free from external distractions, you progress more in a shorter period with concentrated effort than you would with hours of scattered focus.
Maximise Focus & Efficiency
The Pomodoro Technique is not just about managing time; it's about maximising focus and efficiency.
By working in short, focused intervals, you train your brain to concentrate deeply on tasks without succumbing to distractions.
With heightened focus, you work with greater intensity and clarity, leading to higher-quality output in less time.
The Pomodoro Technique includes regular breaks to maintain cognitive freshness and prevent mental fatigue.
Making you more productive for longer.
Why It Matters 🤷♂️
Everyone wants to be more productive and less distracted.
The Pomodoro Technique is great for this, but let's zoom out and consider some surprising side effects.
Improved Wellbeing
A great side effect of The Pomodoro Technique is reduced stress and improved overall wellbeing.
Taking regular breaks helps to sustain physical and mental energy levels, which can help you avoid burnout.
Working for shorter focused intervals also has physical benefits, too.
You can get out of that computer chair more often, helping you avoid neck and back pain and improving overall mobility.
Improved Motivation
Building on improved wellbeing, working in short intervals allows you to see progress more rapidly.
Short breaks keep you mentally refreshed.
They give you time to reflect, which can improve creativity.
With mental clarity and productivity increasing, you feel more motivated.
Improved Relationships
The most important side effect of using The Pomodoro Technique is improved relationships.
Sounds like a stretch, I know, but think about it…
That reduction in stress and extra energy will undoubtedly impact those you care about most at home.
Making you a much nicer partner, mother or father, brother or sister to be around.
And it doesn’t stop there.
The same can be said for those you work with.
You’ll be easier to talk to and collaborate with, not to mention you’ll be a productive team member.
Take Action 🔥
As with most things, one size fits all isn’t optimal.
Don’t be afraid to experiment to find what’s optimal for you.
Maybe:
🟢 You work better in 15-minute intervals or perhaps 40-minute intervals?
🟢 You need a 10-minute break rather than 5 minutes.
🟢 You want focus music for work and relaxing music for your break.
You can do all of this with my free Focus Pomodoro Tool.
Including building a focused work session of multiple intervals with automatic breaks included.
Give it a go, and see if you can beat procrastination, improve your focus and boost your productivity.
Rich’s Recommendations
Check out my recommendations to improve your wellbeing, mindset, leadership or tech skills:
A great way to get started with The Pomodoro Technique and customise it to what works best for you.
👍 NK’s weekly newsletter to learn system design:
Newsletter: System Design Newsletter
👍 Dev Leader’s weekly newsletter to help you level up as a software engineer!
From a Principal Engineering Manager at Microsoft.
Newsletter: Dev Leader Weekly
👍 John Crickett’s weekly coding challenge to help software engineers level up:
Newsletter: Coding Challenges
Closing
The Pomodoro Technique can transform your work habits and unlock new levels of focus, productivity, and success.
And that’s not all.
Look out for the positive side effects:
🟢 Improved Wellbeing
🟢 Improved Motivation
🟢 Improved Relationships
Your family, team, and boss will all be glad you gave it a go. 👍
Remember
There's nothing more important than your own wellbeing!
The effects on well-being are underestimated. Getting up from your chair every 25 minutes, if you just walk around, will yield a small brain stimulation that might be just enough to get you over the problem you're trying to solve.
It's essentially a hack to have a fresh eye on something even if you were working on it all day.
Great stuff 👏
Honestly I loved the side effects you shared. I never used it because I can easily focus and forget everything around me (I often lost notifications and arrive late to meetings 😬). After hours, I feel so exhausted that I can't even think anymore.