The Pomodoro Technique

[Ascend]

When I read up on the Pomodoro technique,I saw that I was doing it by accident well an aspect of the technique. The aspect of the technique: planning, tracking, recording, processing and visualizing are some things which I have not done and I did read somewhere that visualizing all of the steps before starting helps one get threw any blocks that hinders one from moving forward.

Nevertheless, I do like the breaks aspect of the pomodoro techniques and I use the breaks section to alternate between "work" and "personal" as personal next tasks being done in the five minute break.

But that just some of my thoughts

[jesig]

I thought I would also add, I've found Pomodoro to mesh really nicely with Neil Fiore's THE NOW HABIT methods as well. It is the very essence of "consistent starting," and since a pomorodo with break is 30 minutes, it works very nicely in Fiore's unschedule.

I use GTD methodology to define my work, and pomodoro to accomplish the work I've defined. I've found it to be an almost seamless combination.

[SteelcaseGTDr]

I too am a die-hard GTD'r who uses Pomodoro (about 6 months now) to keep me focused when i'm actually in one spot for long enough to. I use a timer called "It's Focus Time" app, because it (as opposed to many of the other sim. apps) has a clicking timer sound if i want it. I read somewhere that this helps and it seems to.
The question i have always had about using Pom, is the effect that it could have on the state of "flow". Flow is the state where you are fully engaged in what you are doing, and time doesnt matter, and you love it. Like when you are writting something or painting or whatever, and after several hours you go, "wow! it's 2:30am...what just happened?" The goal is to increase the time in flow. If I feel like i am "in flow" then my Pomodoro timer going off is a bit of a "flow buster". I usually just reset it and keep going without the 5 min. break. I know that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the psycologist that came up with the concept of flow, is a major GTD's himself as is his staff, but never heard what he thought of Pomodoro as it relates to flow. Interested in other's perspectives on this.

[RuthMcT]

yes, that's exactly what I do. If I'm happy to keep going I just reset the timer. I often find after the first pomodoro, my mind settles down to getting the work done

Ruth

[liamhrory]

This is the first time I heard of the pomodoro technique and it sounds really interesting.

[Tspeidel]

I use the Pomodoro technique off and on. My job consists of lots of back-to-back meetings and dealing with work as it shows up (triage and crisis), so I am only able to fully utilize the technique when I am working on some focused next actions or projects.

The most amazing thing that the Pomodoro technique has done for me though, has been to finally learn how long certain tasks REALLY take to accomplish. I'm sure no one else has this problem . . . but I have a habit of trying to cram too much into a day/hour/etc. I tend to be a bit overambitious with just how many NAs I can fit into my allotted time. Tallying how many Pomodoros a certain task takes has been my best take away from this technique!

[enyonam]

I'm sure no one else has this problem . . . but I have a habit of trying to cram too much into a day/hour/etc. I tend to be a bit overambitious with just how many NAs I can fit into my allotted time.

lol

absolutely

i console myself by thinking that i probably would never get started if i knew how long things would actually take