đź’­ What is it?

Francesco Cirillo developed the Pomodoro Technique in 1980, and now you can see it recommended everywhere regarding time management or more effective studying. It involves studying for some time and then taking a small break. Then, you can take a more extended break after a few rounds. The standard is that working time is 25 minutes, a short break is 5 minutes, and a long break is 15 minutes 1.

The most popular scheme:

  • 25 minutes work
  • 5-minutes break
  • 25-minutes work
  • 5-minutes break
  • 25-minute work
  • 5-minutes break
  • 25-minutes work
  • 15-minute longer break.

Another popular variant is 52 / 17 popularized by The Muse in 2014 using DeskTime tracking software. They learned that the most productive employees work in small sprints with a goal in mind and take frequent breaks. The most common pattern was the 52 / 17. They worked for 52 minutes and took a 17-minute break.

đź’ˇ Switching Attention

An experiment with 84 participants showed that briefly deactivating and activating tasks from our focus enables our brain to concentrate for long periods. The performance dropped off for participants who didn’t take any break 2.

It helps utilize focused and diffused states of thinking. By switching attention after concentrating on the problem for a while to diffuse mode, we can find a more effective way to solve the problem. We can achieve a lot by focusing on the work and not finishing the job 3.

❤️ Effects On Health

A study about the effect of sitting on people’s health finds that the typical office worker spends 15 hours a day sittings, which hurts his health and promotes light intensity activity to decrease the effect 4. The health consequences include a significantly increased risk of diabetes and mortality 5.

Another study shows that up to 90% of digital users have symptoms of eye strain - especially computer workers or contact lens wearers 6. Another suggests a lower number of 50% percent - by measuring the frequency of blinking, state of pupils, flicker–fusion frequency, etc. 7. One way to combat this problem is utilizing the 20-20-20 rule, which can significantly decrease the effect of digital device usage on our eyes 8.

Taking breaks naturally motivates you to look outside or at different objects, so you apply the 20-20-20 rule. You can even stretch yourself and make a few push-ups. And like this, you can combine these problems with ease.

🍡 It Combats Multitasking

Sometimes we want to be more productive get it done quickly and, so we try to do many things at once. However, many studies strongly suggest that multitasking is very ineffective. This is because our brains use only part of their capacities when constantly interrupted.

One study found that minute-by-minute observations over 15 minutes revealed that students had a difficult time focusing on their primary task, averaging less than 6 minutes staying on the task before switching to another task. This type of multitasking is used at school, when doing homework, etc. The same study also suggests students with a specific goal and sufficient motivation would be less likely to multitask [x].

Promotes Deep Work

"Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate."

Carl Newport - Deep Work

We are talking about deep work cause it is so rare today. With all options that we have: social media, Netflix, YouTube, etc. - we can be easily distracted. This constant switching between tasks decreases our performance and consumers our time.

In one study, the average worker spends 60% of the time in electronic communication x. Another study shows that even switching is a problem [x]. Our brain needs time to focus entirely on a task to be able to load information to the short-term memory and establish high-intensity communication with it. This high-intensity communication also helps build the myelin sheaths over nerves, allowing our brain to move neurons along them more quickly [x].

â›” It fights Parkinson’s Law

When using the Pomodoro technique, you are dividing your time between activities. It’s no longer just a to-do list with all the nice things you would like to do. Instead, you are working with finite time.

The Pomodoro technique will naturally motivate you to divide your time wisely, and when you get used to taking breaks, you will be less likely to get deeply stuck in some things. This is because when you take a break, you give other parts of your brain space to offer their insights đź’ˇ.

From my experience as a programmer, a small break (or switch) from the problem can offer great insight and solve the problem.

And when the breaks don’t help, you can leave the task for a day and try the next day. Your brain will unconsciously make connections with the worked information, and you may find it much easier the next day. This can be a very effective alternative to going round in circles that day.

đź”— Useful Links

  1. Wikipedia article link. ↩︎

  2. Study - Brief and rare mental “breaks” keep you focused: Deactivation and reactivation of task goals preempt vigilance decrements link. ↩︎

  3. A Mind For Numbers - Barbara Oakley. ↩︎

  4. Study - Too much sitting – A health hazard link. ↩︎

  5. Study - Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death: a systematic review and meta-analysis link. ↩︎

  6. Study - Management of digital eye strain link. ↩︎

  7. Study - Digital eye strain: prevalence, measurement and amelioration link. ↩︎

  8. Study - Impact of an educational intervention using the 20/20/20 rule on Computer Vision Syndrome link. ↩︎