Procrastinating Pomodoro Style

The Pomordoro Technique is a time management method, first developed by Francesco Cirillo during the 1980s as a study method (Cirillo 2006). Cirillo's original method required only simple tools — a mechanical kitchen timer and pen/paper. The main tactic is to work in blocks of time, typically 25 minutes long (called "Pomodoro Sessions", or "Pomodoros") followed by regular breaks. Each Pomodoro optimally demand your full attention on one task. Each break requires you to stop working on that one task, and that you rest.

There is a simple algorithm:
  1. Decide on the task to be done
  2. Set the Pomodoro timer (usually to 25 minutes)
  3. Work on the task.
  4. When the timer goes off, put a mark on a piece of paper.
  5. If you have fewer than four marks, take a short break (~5 minutes), and return to step 2.
  6. After four Pomodoros, take a longer break (~15-30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, and return to step 1.
This technique relies on the idea that resting at appropriate intervals increases your productivity. Willpower can be viewed as a sort of muscle (Baumeister and Tierney 2012). By planning regular intervals to rest, we avoid ego depletion, the diminishing of our ability to exercise willpower or seld-control, and get more done.


A Pomordoro Timer


The Pomodoro technique has seen an increase in popularity with the current digital era. Possible reasons for this are not hard to see. With the Internet connections everywhere, sophisticated mobile devices and laptop batteries that last longer than
one game of League of Legendsan episode of your favorite TV show, there are many, many potential draws of our attention at any given time. The Pomodoro technique is one way to better take control of our attention, and by extentsion our ability to get things done, one Pomodoro at a time.

Priorities and Pomodoros


However, while the Pomodoro Technique is great for getting yourself to focus on a single task at a time, some higher level supervision is necessary to make sure you are focusing your time on lines up with your priorities. In the steps given above, this mainly corresponds to step 1, "Decide on the task to be done".

Experimenting with Pomodoro Technique, I jumped right into doing things. But did I do the right things? In fact, I think that the Pomodoro technique enabled me to more effectively neglect certain priorities in particular areas of my life, while enjoying great productivity in others. Through the Pomodoro technique, I was able to do more procrastination, more effectively (which one may argue is a decent use of time). Under certain criteria, I succeeded at getting more things done. But by other criteria, I actually got less done of the things I really wanted to get done through experimenting with the Pomodoro technique. As Uncle Ben says to Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility".


Focusing on the important things

Examples of things I did:
Examples of thing I didn't do while experimenting with the Pomodoro technique:
I think the Pomodoro Techinque is best coupled with a more comprehensive system for assessing goal, priorities, and the like1. Nevertheless, practicing the Pomodoro Technique (as described in the steps above) is basically guaranteed to give the practitioner a greater awareness of time it takes to do things, attention, and the limited number of hours there are in each day, among other advantages.

The Ebb and Flow of Attention


One of the key ideas underlying the Pomodoro method is that we work best in shortish intervals (Pomodoros) followed by time to rest. This is because it is assumed we get tired if we work too long, and resting allows us to recover and be creative. While the concepts of willpower and ego depletion are intuitive and can be useful, they cannot explain everything about why sometimes we can persevere, and at other times we cannot. For instance, two other factors affecting our executive abilities are motivation and fatigue (Hagger et al. 2010).

Focusing on the positive here, it is evident that strong motivation and attentional control can allow us to escape "Pomodoro time". There are many times where we we shouldn't stop ourselves from working after one Pomodoro (~25 minutes). In particular, I think states of "flow" (aka "the zone", a mental state in which a person is fully immersed in the activity they are involved, experiencing enegized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment) should not be punctuated by Pomodoros, as much a possible.

With that being said, I think that the Pomodoro Technique can be a great tool to use to get past difficult barriers when we can't find a flow experience, or to just deal with difficult or annoying things, like doing taxes or learning to write Chinese. As of now, I consider the Pomodoro Technique a useful tactic as opposed to a complete "philosophy" or "life strategy". Like all tools, it can be used or misused.


Finding flow, transcending Pomodoros

In any case, giving the Pomodoro Technique a try is highly reccomended for those that have not done so already. I mean, hey, you have stuff to do anyways and its free to try, for serious" A simple Pomodoro timer, with a clean, simple interface is available at tomato-timer.com.

More reading


Baumeister, Roy F, and John Tierney. 2012. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. Penguin.

Cirillo, Francesco. 2006. “The Pomodoro Technique (the Pomodoro).”

Hagger, Martin S, Chantelle Wood, Chris Stiff, and Nikos LD Chatzisarantis. 2010. “Ego Depletion and the Strength Model of Self-Control: A Meta-Analysis.” American Psychological Association.
  1. In a future post, I'll discuss my personal favorite, Getting Things Done by David Allen.↩

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