Here Is What You Can Do to Improve Your Focus And Get Things Done

I am a self-improvement junkie. That means I am obsessed with ideas, processes, and systems that help me grow and improve.

That’s why it irritated me when I couldn’t finish my To-do lists for the day. I was frustrated to see those tasks waiting to be striked off. I felt defeated.

I tried almost all the apps in the market. Todoist, Evernote, Wunderlist, Slack and others. While the apps were great at giving overall visibility of the tasks, they didn’t help when it came to actually doing them.

Essentially, sitting down and getting things done.

I now had 4 apps with tasks pending in each one of them. This made me feel even worse.

I realized,

Knowing what to do wasn’t the problem.

It was about “How to get it done?”

Being a self-improvement junkie, I did what I knew best. I scoured the web again for articles, videos, and books that could help me with my problem.

That’s when I stumbled across something called a Pomodoro Technique.

Of all the solutions I had come across, this one seemed simple and implementable. It didn’t require any additional equipment, no fancy apps, and no elaborate theories.

If you are reading this, you want to stop feeling frustrated at the end of the day. You want to be efficient and productive.

More than anything else, you want to see that task list checked completely.

Well, let me tell you how you can do it.

The Pomodoro Technique

In the late 1980s, Francesco Cirillo, a university student came up with an idea to get better at time management.

He decided to divide his work in terms of time intervals. The time duration was 25 minutes for each interval.

That means if he had to finish an assignment, he didn’t see this as one big task but he saw it as 4 time intervals of 25 minutes each.

Each time interval was called a Pomodoro, named after a tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Francesco used to keep track of time intervals.

For many people, time is an enemy. We race against the clock to and meet deadlines. The Pomodoro Technique teaches you to work with time, instead of struggling against it.

The Pomodoro Technique helped him so much that he came up with an elaborate six-step process to explain it to others.

Here are the six steps involved:

Choose a task you’d like to get done

This could be anything. Small tasks, big tasks, tasks that you have been putting off for days now.

All that matters is that it should be a task that you really want to get done with and you are willing to give your full attention to it.

Write down that task on a piece of paper.

Set the Pomodoro for 25 minutes

These 25 minutes are sacred. That means, in these 25 minutes, you make sure that nothing and nobody interrupts you.

No phone calls, no messages, no social media, no people, no nothing.

It’s just 25 minutes. Come on, you can do it.

Work on the task until the timer rings

Now, work on the task for 25 minutes straight. Don’t get up. Don’t talk to anybody.

Try to work as intensely as you can. If you remember some other task or some other important information during that time, make a note of it on a piece of paper.

But immediately get back to the task at hand.

Give yourself a symbolic thumbs-up

Congratulations, you just spent 25 interruption free minutes on a single task.

Maybe you finished it. Maybe you didn’t it. But you did complete 25 minutes of work.

So congratulate yourself. Use checkmarks, stars or any other symbol you like and note it down in front of the task on a piece of paper.

Take a short break

This could be anything you like.

Check your phone, check your social media, listen to a song, talk to somebody or maybe even go for a walk.

The key is to not think about the task for the next 5 minutes. Give your brain something else to do. Make sure, the break is not more than 10 mins.

Repeat and take a longer break after 4 Pomodoros

Repeat steps 1 to 5 again.

Once you complete 4 Pomodoros, take a longer 30-minute break.

By doing this, you allow your brain to refresh and reboot properly. And you get ready for the next round.

My Pomodoro Experiment — Helpful Improvements

When I first read the technique, I was instantly hooked. It seemed simple and easy to do. So, I tried it for a week.

And it delivered on its promise. Big Time.

Although I didn’t finish all my tasks on the To-Do list, I finished 90% of them. With distractions eliminated, my focus improved and I stuck with a task longer than I usually would have.

It made planning the day extremely simple since I just had to look for available 25-minute time slots

The original method worked primarily because of its simplicity.

However, I found that adding a few tweaks not only kept it simple, but actually made the technique, even more effective.

Here are the same six steps with the tricks that helped me make the most out of the Pomodoro Technique.

Choose a task you’d like to get done

When I started with the technique, I used a note-taking app like Evernote to list down the tasks. I did this first thing in the morning.

However, the trouble was my day had already started. It was already bearing down on me.

I discovered that it is much more effective to do this the night before.

It gave me a much better view of the entire day. I also started using a simple pen and paper to list down the tasks. I realized that a pen and a notebook gave me more satisfaction than using a digital platform.

Another useful tweak I made was by breaking down the tasks into their smallest possible units.

So, the task of writing a blog post becomes

1. Finalize the Headline
2. Write The Intro
3. List down Sub-headings
4. Write content for each Sub-heading
5. Write The Conclusion
6. Edit the Draft

The reason this helps is that you know exactly how you are going to spend the 25 minutes.

If the task is vague and big, it becomes difficult to start and consequently, it becomes difficult to finish.

Set the Pomodoro for 25 minutes

Most of the work I did was on the laptop. Hence I just used the inbuilt laptop timer to set my Pomodoros. You can use the Clock App in your Mobile phones too. No need to have a physical timer.

If you are just starting with this technique, 25 minutes can be a stretch. I started with 10 minutes and gradually went up. I would suggest any beginner start with 10 minutes first and then gradually increase it by 5 minutes till you get comfortable with 25 minutes.

I found it especially hard to do a Pomodoro at the workplace. There were too many distractions. I tried to avoid them by putting my phone behind the laptop screen or in the drawer. I used earphones to make it seem like I was on a call and I turned off my mail application for that 25 minutes.

Work on the task until the timer rings

Keep a diary or a note-taking app open on the side every time you start a Pomodoro.

I couldn’t help but keep remembering other tasks I had to do. The diary helped me make note of these details immediately. Hence, I got it out of my system and continued with the current task.

Often, you won’t finish the task you are working on. That’s okay. Nevertheless, take a break. Get up from your desk and move around a little.

Try not to focus on that task so much during the break. Trust me, you will pick up right where you left off.

Give yourself a symbolic thumbs-up

Psychologically, this step makes sense. However, it’s okay if you want to omit it. I felt that it doesn’t make much of a difference.

Take a short break

I often ignored this step because I felt that I was in the zone and could do without a break.

However, the problem was that in the later part of the day, I felt exhausted. I couldn’t finish my Pomdoros because it became super difficult to maintain focus.

So, ensure that you take a break. Just listen to one song at least. The key is to do any other non-task related activity which can help you relax.

It might not feel like it but our brains need that 5-minute break more than anything else.

Repeat and take a longer break after 4 Pomodoros

I usually timed my lunch, snacks, and dinners so that they would coincide with my longer breaks. This ensured two killings with one bullet.

I did it. You can do it too.

Now that you know how the Pomodoro technique works the best, all you need to do is get started.

I guarantee you that you will see results on the first day of practice itself.

Successfully finishing our tasks gives us a unique kind of high. It makes us feel self-confident, allows us to plan our days better and helps us reach towards our goals faster.

Get started with the Pomodoro technique. Think of it as an experiment.

See what works for you. Make changes to customize the process as per your liking.

You won’t regret it.

All the best.

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Citations

Read more about the technique here:

https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique

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