Take It From Someone Who

Hates Productivity Hacks—the

Pomodoro Technique Actually
Works
by

Kat Boogaard

Hero Images/Getty Images

Admittedly, I’ve never been big on productivity hacks and tricks. Instead, I keep
things pretty simple. I take a look at my planner (yes, a real paper planner—not my
phone), jot down a list of things I want to get done that day, and then start hustling.

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But after hearing so much chatter about the Pomodoro Technique, I figured I
should at least do my due diligence and give it a try. I listened to so many different
people rant and rave about how it helped them greatly improve their focus and
increase their productivity. So I thought testing it out couldn’t hurt—and, if all went
well, maybe I’d even identify a new tactic for tackling my never-ending to-do list.
Needless to say, testing it out is exactly what I did. In fact, I utilized this time
management method for an entire week in order to share my findings. And as
any good journalist would, I kicked things back old school and used the scientific
method to share my results. If only my sixth grade science teacher could see me
now

What Is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system that encourages people
to work with the time they have—rather than against it. Using this method, you
break your workday into 25-minute chunks separated by five-minute breaks.
These intervals are referred to as pomodoros. After about four pomodoros, you
take a longer break of about 15 to 20 minutes.

The idea behind the technique is that the timer instills a sense of urgency. Rather
than feeling like you have endless time in the workday to get things done and then
ultimately squandering those precious work hours on distractions, you know you
only have 25 minutes to make as much progress on a task as possible.

Additionally, the forced breaks help to cure that frazzled, burnt-out feeling most of
us experience toward the end of the day. It’s impossible to spend hours in front of
your computer without even realizing it, as that ticking timer reminds you to get
up and take a breather.
The concept of keeping such detailed track of my workday seemed a little
cumbersome to me. So I downloaded a pomodoro timer on my phone. It made
things much easier, and I highly recommend it if you’re planning on trying this
yourself. If you have an iPhone, try Focus Keeper. Meanwhile, Android users can
check out Pomodoro Timer Lite.

Hypothesis
If I’m being perfectly honest, I anticipated not liking this at all. I’m the type of
person who tends to sit in front of her computer and hammer out four hours of
work without so much as a bathroom break.

Because I was so used to working in those long chunks of time (during which I
thought I was being productive), the idea of splitting up my workday
and—gasp!—wasting time on breaks seemed totally counterintuitive. How could
working less actually help me accomplish more?

The premise didn’t seem like it would mesh well with me. But I went for it anyway.
Results
Let’s just get right to the heart of the matter: My hypothesis was wrong. I actually
ended up really liking this method—and it’s probably something I’ll continue to
implement when I want to kick my productivity up a notch.

At first, working in such small increments felt unnatural. There were quite a few
times—especially in the beginning—when I was tempted to ignore the timer and
continue working. But I forced myself to stick to the format.

After some time, the technique started to really gel with me. I was focused and
super productive during my work time, as I was eager to get as much completed
during that 25-minute interval as I could. I didn’t find myself mindlessly scrolling
through Facebook or getting sucked in by those pesky clickbait articles. And as a
notorious multitasker, I noticed that I was totally zoned in on the one project at
hand.

Because I was forced to get up and give myself a rest from staring at my laptop
screen, I found that I actually did feel better at the end of each day. Not only did I
feel like I had put in an honest day’s work, but I also felt less stressed,
blurry-eyed, and cramped up.

Go figure—actually standing up a couple of times throughout the day really does

help.
However, I wouldn’t be an honest journalist if I didn’t outline at least one drawback.
While it worked great on the days when all of my time was my own, it became
quite complicated when I had scheduled calls and meetings. I didn’t think my
clients or colleagues would react too favorably to me yelling, “Be back in five! My
timer just went off!” in the middle of a conversation.

So I ended up just completely deactivating my timer during these

meetings—whether they were 15 minutes or an hour—and picking back up with
the technique when those appointments were finished. Perhaps that means I
bent the rules a bit, but I couldn’t figure out a better way to handle that situation.

All in all, I was surprised to find that I actually really liked the Pomodoro Technique,
and I think it lived up to its promises of making me more focused and productive.
I’m planning on using it on those days when there’s nothing in my calendar.
However, I’m curious to see how well it works for someone who regularly has a lot
of meetings, phone calls, and appointments.

Updated 1/24/2022