Pomodoro Technique: The good and the bad.
- The Pomodoro technique has the following steps:
- Decide on the task to be done.Set the Pomodoro timer (typically for 25 minutes).
- Work on the task.
- End work when the timer rings and take a short break (typically 5–10 minutes).[4]
- If you have finished fewer than three pomodoros, go back to Step 2 and repeat until you go through all three pomodoros.
- After three pomodoros are done, take the fourth pomodoro and then take a long break (typically 20 to 30 minutes). Once the long break is finished, return to step 2.The challenges for people with ADHD is that:
- The assumption that we will be able to focus correctly after the break may be very challenged.
- Pomodoro can ruin an ADHD person’s ability to hyperfocus. Instead of getting lost for hours into a project the time is broken up and the project might not be got back into. If you want to do a big piece of work we recommend AGAINST using Pomodoro.
- However, if you’re doing small tasks and want to make sure you stop after a period and are aiming to ensure you don’t get lost into hyperfocus on them then we do recommend Pomodoro.
- Summary – for big projects Pomodoro can be a disaster because for many it breaks the ADHD strength of hyperfocus. For small tasks Pomodoro can be very useful in breaking focus to help avoid dropping into hyperfocus and spending too much time on something.
What do you think about this technique?
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What others have said:
| Star Rating Given | Comment |
|---|---|
| 5 | An excellent tool to organise thoughts, ideas and so they become lost in the sea of emails or collect on piles of sticky notes on the desk, one stop memory bank. |
| 1 | I dont know why but to me it feels like a prison:( |
| 1 | Can't see what exactly is on offer or what the voucher is for. The webinar is a previous date, and I couldn't sign up (probably because the date has passed). It's all a bit confusing. |
| 5 | When I got two monitors, I was so pleased that I almost instantly wanted three. Now that I have three I want more. Which has led me to the painful conclusion that I am really just using multiple monitors as a cope. the root cause of my productivity issues--my inadequate ability to prioritize means that I actually get more done the fewer screens i can access. |
| 3 | This quote actually was created a number of years ago in relation to Gifted kids (I first read it in 2019 when I was going down the Giftedness rabbit hole). I guess @omgamiautistic has adapted it and now ADHD UK have done it too! It’s certainly useful in all those cases to help explain how labels help us to find our place. |
| 5 | The two minute rule works for me, despite the risk of distraction. Some things feel small but are very important. Brushing teeth, cleaning up my dishes from lunch, watering the plants. These are things I could go days without doing because it always gets shifted to ‘later’ and then forgotten altogether. I’d rather risk getting distracted from work, than end up with cavities in my teeth and dead plants on my windowsill. |
| 4 | I can see the value in using this technique in limited contexts - say, helping a school student with ADHD to focus on homework. It links in very well with 'Accelerated Learning' principles (see Alastair Smith - brilliant) in recognising that the brain (that's 'anyone's' brain too) works at its best for a limited time before it begins to switch off. |
| 3 | i like to use this for getting started on big tasks, because if the timer goes off then i dont have to stop its just a thing for me to get started but it also helps with little tasks like chores. |
| 4 | Massive risk that setting up the system becomes a distraction, and then another system comes along... But yeah the right system can help a team manage tasks while letting people present / organise things in their own way. |
| 5 | Hadn't thought about this until I saw it on here as a strategy - I use two monitors so that I can have reference material up on one and work on the other. Stops me going off track when I toggle between windows and something unrelated catches my eye. |