Pomodoro method: manage your time and boost your productivity

Having "too many things to do", "being overbooked" or "never having enough time"... Have you ever heard this before? It's not uncommon at work to want to extend our days, which are too short for our liking, with the desire to do more. But as we all know, time is finite. The art of mastering our use of time lies in our ability to make good use of the hours we have available in a working day.

In this article, we will see that good productivity is inextricably linked to successful time management. Among the various existing methods, we have selected the Pomodoro technique, to find out how to manage your time effectively by dividing your work into two-hour cycles, themselves interspersed with short breaks . Find out now how to put it into practice, and what it can do for you!

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Managing your time effectively: one of the keys to success

Your time is worth its weight in gold

We're all aware that our time is precious. So it's in our interest to make the most of every minute of it to get as much done as possible, quickly and well. The problem is, human beings are not machines, and aspiring to be is a utopian dream. However, there are ways of exercising a degree of control over our time. So how can we do this without extending our days or interfering with our sleep?

Staying in control of your time...

Time can be both a friend and an enemy if you don't know how to tame it. It's often tempting to want to complete certain tasks at the same time, thinking that we can tick off the boxes on our to-do list more quickly . But it's a myth that we're more efficient when we do several things at once. Juggling our activities quickly can give us a feeling of control, and lead to a certain euphoria.

But beware: faced with too much information to process, the brain becomes saturated and real productivity drops drastically. In the end, the opposite is likely to happen: we may have started more tasks, but we don't feel that we've completed any of them, which can be frustrating.

The solution is to organise your working time by breaking things down into sequences, setting priorities and planning tasks realistically, making sure you prioritise the most urgent ones. The ultimate goal: to get more done in less time.

Inspired by the painting "Achieve More by Doing Less" by Christine Carter

... while respecting your abilities

But how can we do more without spreading ourselves too thin? Switching from one task to another gives us a deceptive impression of flexibility and efficiency, especially as we're using up a lot of mental energy. Concentration means not only mobilising our mental capacities towards a single object, but also remaining permeable to any external stimulus capable of diverting our attention from that object.

The brain naturally has an anti-distraction system: in "concentration mode", neurons communicate with each other more clearly and more intensely. So, if our brains are overloaded, we run a greater risk of making mistakes, as shown by a study published in 2015 by researchers at the University of Michigan who looked at the daily lives of emergency doctors. So it's important to respect this way of working by doing as much as possible to avoid sources of distraction and filter out all activities unrelated to the task in hand.

"He who wishes to travel far, spares his mount": don't overlook the benefits of taking a break!

What's more, we all need to take our minds off things to avoid mental exhaustion: taking a break increases productivity and makes it easier to assimilate information afterwards. Finally, we strongly recommend :

• Incorporate breaks into your timetable,
• Spread tasks over the day according to priority and degree of difficulty,
• Vary the intensity of your work so that you don't always have to make the same kind of effort,
• don't forget yourself: it's in everyone's interest to keep in touch with your personal abilities.

The Pomodoro method: time management in intervals

Origin: a kitchen timer

The Italian Francisco Cirillo is the inventor of this work method (The Pomodoro Technique, literally the tomato technique, now a registered trademark). As a student in the 1980s, he realised that you could be more productive by concentrating on a single task, rather than trying to do several in parallel.

To time himself, he used a tomato-shaped timer, which gave the concept its name (pomodoro means tomato in Italian). In practice, this means dividing your work into 25-minute intervals, called tomatoes, with 5-minute breaks in between.

The main principle of this method is the segmentation of tasks into pomodori (plural of pomodoro), which represent periods of intense work of limited duration. The idea is to divide large projects into small, finite tasks and complete them without interruption, so that you can regain control of your time and no longer be a slave to distractions.

To achieve this, a great deal of self-discipline is required: you have to motivate yourself! But there's no need to get stressed out about it: any distracting thoughts can be noted down as you go along and considered later to clear your mind and achieve better concentration.

Separate thinking from doing to get things done more quickly and think more clearly.

« Separate thinking and execution to execute faster and think better. » — Sol Tanguay, Imarklab

Tomatoes for action: the step-by-step method

Let's take a look at the steps you need to follow to put this method into practice. All you need is a pencil and a sheet of paper, or the digital version of a notebook or spreadsheet, for example.

A way of applying the Pomodoro method
2015 Elvindantes.com

Step 1: choose a task

Use your to-do list for the day and define your tomatoes. This involves planning the number of pomodori you will need for each task. It's up to you to work out how much time you need to spend on each task!

For example: PowerPoint presentation slides = 3 tomatoes; competitive intelligence = 2 tomatoes, etc.

Step 2: Set your stopwatch for 25 minutes

For 25 minutes, all your attention will be devoted to your tomato. The timer can be mechanical, like the ones we use in the kitchen, or virtual, with many options available on the web, as we'll see later.

Step 3: Get to work

Start working. The idea is to concentrate on a single task for the allotted time, to be efficient without getting distracted.

Step 4: Stop your work

The idea is to stop as soon as the timer rings, even if you haven't finished. You can use several tomatoes for the same task.

Step 5: Make a note of your progress

Make notes both to keep track of progress on the task in hand, but also to take stock of your progress on each work cycle and your day in general.

💡The good idea : note-taking is also sensible for freeing your mind of all the thoughts that will have arisen during your work. The things you've written down can be picked up again during breaks.

Step 6: Take a 5-minute break

Use the break to detach yourself from your screen, have a cup of tea or a glass of water, stretch or carry out any other activity that takes your mind off the task and allows you to relax.

Step 7: Get back to work

Repeat the steps from the beginning for another 25 minutes.

Step 8: After 4 tomatoes, take a long break

After 4 periods of work, take a break of around 15 to 30 minutes, depending on your needs, and devote it to lighter tasks requiring less mental effort.

Step 9: Start a new work cycle

Continue by starting a new work cycle of 4 tomatoes interspersed with short breaks. Keep up the momentum until you have the right amount of work for the day.

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The benefits of Pomodoro

Profiles concerned

This method is particularly suitable for people who identify with one or more of the following situations:

• you find it difficult to focus on a single task for any length of time,
• You're easily influenced by external stimuli,
• you have a tendency to procrastinate (in other words, to put off until tomorrow or later what can be done the same day),
• you often have the feeling that your planned workload for the day has not been completed.

Intensity and efficiency: a recipe for success

This technique has many benefits, and you'll reap the rewards if you stick with it. It is based on the following pillars: discipline, monotasking and concentration.

Discipline versus dissipation

Self-discipline is at the heart of how it works: by imposing constraints, it pushes us to break unproductive habits . Its effectiveness will therefore depend in part on our firm determination to make a significant and lasting change in the way we work.

Monotasking versus multitasking

The method commits us to dealing with just one task at a time, possibly broken down into sub-tasks, and to ruling out once and for all " multitasking" (activities carried out simultaneously), the best enemy of productivity.

Concentration versus distraction

Finally, it trains us to work without interruption: you devote 100% of your attention to the task in hand. What's more, it encourages you to alternate between periods of high concentration and regular short breaks, essential breaths of air to relieve the pressure and enable you to concentrate better afterwards.

☝ Tip: to best adapt this method to your working habits, make a note of what you've achieved, and also note possible improvements, such as working on interruptions (telephone, colleagues, loss of motivation).

In practice: tools to help you

There are applications for the Mac and Chrome, such as Pomotodo, available as a web version and on Android, iOS, macOS and Google Chrome (extension). With its minimalist interface, Pomotodo features both a to-do list and a timer system. Statistics are available to show the number of tasks completed and their history.

There are a host of options, including :

• Clear Focus (available on Google Play),
• Scheduler (available on Android),
• Pomodoro Focus Timer (available on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch),
• PomodoneApp (available on Mac, Windows, Linux, Web App),
• Focus Booster (available on Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android),
• FocusList (available on iPhone, Apple Watch and Mac),
• and many more.

Ready to get started?

To improve your personal effectiveness, it's in everyone's interest to be proactive and choose a working method that suits you, in order to achieve positive results. In the end, once you've got over the initial difficulties, you'll be delighted to see your first gains in productivity, and the new good habits will quickly fall into place. You now have all the tools you need to adopt the Pomodoro technique - all you have to do is try it out!