How to Focus Working From Home Like a Pro

Lately, more and more friends and writers I know are having trouble with one thing: focus. At first, lockdown was a new experience and we were all finding our feet in this new normal. It was okay if you were a bit distracted because, well, everyone was. But, life goes on and work needs to get done, and yet, no matter how hard a lot of us try to concentrate, we just can’t seem to get into the flow.

There are a few different schools of thought when it comes to nailing a laser-like focus, but one technique that we’ve been hearing about is the Pomodoro Technique. It’s a focus-boosting method that has been used for years and tends to drop in and out of circulation, often forgotten about until someone resurfaces in a very needed time (like a global pandemic perhaps?). With juggling work changes, being remote, kids schooling from home, and masks being put on everywhere, now might be just the right time to give it a try! Intrigued? Here’s everything you need to know about this technique for fueling productivity.

What is The Pomodoro Technique?

Invented by Francesco Cirillo when he was a student in the late 1980s, it’s named after the tomato-shaped timer that Cirillo would use to track his study sessions (pomodoro is Italian for tomato). The idea of the Pomodoro Technique is simple: If you have a large task, you break the time you spend on the task down into short sprints of work called ‘pomodoros,’ which helps to make a mammoth task seem do-able.

How Does the Pomodoro Technique Work?

The cyclical method works as follows:

You spend 25 minutes on your task—this is the productivity sprint known as the pomodoro.

You take a five-minute break.

Repeat the cycle four times.

Take a longer 15 to 30 minute break to reset and recharge.

It’s up to you how many times your repeat this throughout the day.

Is the Pomodoro Technique Effective?

There are different schools of thought when it comes to focus and concentration. Some believe in deep work, where you get settled into a task with no distractions for a few hours of intense focus—so you physically remove yourself from social media, the TV, the fridge, and whatever else may trigger you to stop working.

Others find the Pomodoro Technique and its bite-size approach to work helps them plow through to-do lists with ease.

I sit somewhere in the middle. If I have lots of odd jobs to fulfill in a day, the Pomodoro Technique is a great way to sprint through them. We all have those days where we have lots small things we need to get done.

The Pomodoro Technique also works well for bigger tasks—tax returns, filing, reorganizing your wardrobe—where if your flow gets broken, it’s not detrimental to the task. However, for a bigger task of, you might find that the 25-minute alarm would strike when you’re just getting in the zone so try either the 5-minute rest for the sake of it, or plow through and do two 25-minutes back-to-back.

Over the years, others have found this to be the case too and the original technique has been tweaked and different iterations have surfaced. One is where you work in chunks of 90 minutes instead of 25, which is better suited to those that need to concentrate on a bigger task for longer. I definitely think the Pomodoro Technique is a great tool to have in your arsenal and you can tweak it to make it work better for some tasks than others.

Unwind at the Spa Soon

And once things start to reopen and you’ve tried the technique and you want some unwinding time for yourself, head back over to Botanica Day Spa for a much-needed massage after it all! We’ll let you know once we’re back open (though we’re still taking appointments)! Call us ay 727-441-1711 or book it online here!

Love,

Gen