Over time, you’ll train yourself to be more productive during each pomodoro. After four consecutive working time blocks, you take a longer break, around 20 or 30 minutes.Įach 25-minute work block is called a “pomodoro.” If you feel the urge to do something other than work during a focus period, make a note of it. The final technique is just about as simple as his original idea: you use a timer to break your work into focused time blocks (usually 25 minutes) separated by a short, usually five-minute break. With more testing and tweaking, Cirillo settled on a structured framework for what he called the Pomodoro Technique (named after the Italian word for “tomato,” in reference to his original kitchen timer).

And it worked-forcing himself to focus before rewarding himself with a break helped him get more done, even with the break time.

After realizing he was getting distracted and not using his study time efficiently, he grabbed a tomato-shaped kitchen timer, set it for 10 minutes, and tried working solidly for those 10 minutes without doing anything else. That’s what Francesco Cirillo discovered during his first year of college. But after a while, extra studying doesn’t really help you’re reading the same material, but your brain is so zapped that you won’t retain anything. Everyone has their own tales of studying all night, downing dangerous levels of caffeine, and rubbing their eyes at lecture notes. In college, final exam season prompts a two-week-long cram session. Here’s a quick dive into the Pomodoro Technique, followed by 10 of the best Pomodoro timer apps to help you get started. Pomodoro apps are timers designed specifically for the Pomodoro Technique, making it easy to divide your day up into focus sessions and breaks. The Pomodoro Technique helps you avoid this issue by breaking your day up into 25-minute focus sessions followed by five-minute breaks.Īnd while you could use an egg timer or the clock on your phone to schedule your breaks, a Pomodoro app may be a better solution. Taking frequent breaks helps, but if you don’t specifically schedule time for them, it’s far too easy to sit and work for hours on end. When working or studying, you can only focus for so long before your mind starts to wander. Best Pomodoro Timer Apps to Boost Your Productivity

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