A POMonant fix to schedule our days
When it comes to execution — in all senses of the word, there are few ideas that come close to being as helpful as this one. “The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s” . This is how the original, standard version looked like:
1. Decide on a task that is to be done
2.Set the Pomodoro timer (traditionally, to 25 minutes).
3. Work on the task.
4.End work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.
5. If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2.
6. After four Pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1. (For the purposes of the technique, a Pomodoro is the interval of time spent working.)
Have you heard of the Pomodoro Technique before?
The theory and reasoning behind following this technique are rather intriguing. For one, it is simple and allows us to track progress and manage expectations in bite-sized chunks (not too large or small).
Another great reason is that — by deliberately scheduling a focus event, you push out other concerns from your working memory, effectively clearing space for future use.. Also, this technique frees us from the intimidation of a huge task with abstract levels of completion. We can just work one Pomodoro at a time and make adjustments as we go, maintaining a “good enough” pace. And good enough is enough.
The most prudent theory is based on limited evidence that we have a maximum attention span in work intervals from 20 to 45 minutes if you have had a brief break earlier. The idea is that our brains are biologically “tuned” to have high attention — and thus high impact span of 30 min or so. Pushing one session longer results in a “rather rapid” degradation of average attention levels, which then drops down to a much lower level.
Also, allegedly our brains need about 5 minutes or so to “replenish” and “reset” our attention levels. It is a convenient amount — not too little to make it useless but not long enough to kill our momentum. The 25–5 rule is just a rule of thumb, and we can start with ramping these up too. Say 15–5 to 20–5 to 25–5 to 30–5. After all, it has been said that the hardest thing for a human is to sit and work silently alone on a chair for 30 minutes. Better take it one 25 minute bite at a time eh?
A POMonant fix to schedule our days was originally published in StrangerSapiens on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.