Have you heard of the Pomodoro study/work technique? I had not heard of this until this week, which has transformed how I get work done at home.
To briefly explain, the Pomodoro Technique was developed in the 1980s by a university student named Francesco Cirillo. He used a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato, and the Italian word for tomato is Pomodoro, where the name of this time management technique came from.
Basically, you split your time into productivity intervals. Here is a YouTube video that breaks this method down in-depth.
Not only does this technique help me get my classwork for college done at home, but I have started to use it for chores around the house, with my kids for their homework, and other things that require productivity that I tend to want to procrastinate (like writing this article).
Typically like the video mentions, the most traditional method is splitting your productivity time into 25 min intervals with a 5-minute break in-between each interval. However, you can change the times to meet your needs or accommodate your focus levels. For schoolwork for myself, I have found that a 50/10 split works best for me. That ensures I am actually getting assignments done on time, but I am not constantly getting distracted by my phone or the million other tasks I need to do, nagging at my focus. I will work for 50 mins, and when it is time for my “break,” I will go load or unload the dishwasher or switch the laundry. This 10 min break allows me enough time to feel like I have a chance to catch my breath. Sometimes I get a drink or refill my water and stand outside for the remaining break time.
And if a boring phone timer isn’t fun enough for you, they have all of these great timers you can use on YouTube that I have found to make it even better! The best I have found is the Harry Potter Study Pomodoro sessions. They supply the timer, ASMR style study noises like flipping pages and writing. Then when it is time for the break, you will switch to one of the courtyards or maybe Hagrids Hut!
If you are like me and like to have a little background noise while studying, I highly suggest using one of these YouTube timers to help; you can find many different versions just by searching “Pomodoro Session,” as I did here.
