You want it? Pomodoro technique, I'll explain it to you once and for all!

Figure/Illustration of pomodoro technique

Text/Yema Yema

This article is a reading note of Illustration of pomodoro technique.

Francisco Cirillo founded pomodoro technique in 1992, but if we start from the beginning, we can trace it back to the late 198s, the first few years of his college life.

Cirillo once suffered from low efficiency, unable to do his homework and unable to learn.

"can I study for a while? Really study for 1 minutes? "

"I have to find a timing coach, but who will pinch my watch?"

later, he found it. It was a kitchen timer, shaped like a tomato (Italian word for Pomodoro, the Pomodoro Technique in pomodoro technique). In this way, Cirillo met his tomato clock.

Q. how is the working method extended by the tomato clock implemented?

To put it simply, make a list of what you want to do that day, set the alarm clock for 25 minutes, and then start from the first thing. The first tomato clock ends, rest for 5 minutes, and continue the second tomato clock, so as to repeat.

finish the first thing ahead of time or run out of tomato bells, and start the second thing.

In addition, there should be daily review, daily commitment, interruption control, estimated time, etc.

Q. Why is pomodoro technique refreshing?

because it breaks our inherent concept of time-work.

At work, we often default that time is continuous, such as "I have to catch the bus in 1 minutes" and "deadline is this Wednesday", where time means the distance between two points-the starting point and the end point. We made two points clear, but we had no idea what would happen in the middle.

From the perspective of time duration, thinking, calculating and dividing the future is like a blind man touching an elephant, at least when facing a brand-new task in a brand-new way.

for most people, it is this unpredictability that causes anxiety. And anxiety will undoubtedly lead to a decline in productivity and may even screw things up.

pomodoro technique advocates the concept of alternating time, such as chicken 1 lays egg 2, egg 2 lays chicken 3, chicken 3 lays egg 4, and so on. These events do not overlap with each other. We may not know the specific time point, but we know the sequence of their occurrence.

if we can think from the perspective of time alternation and treat work as a series of events, the work efficiency will be improved. This is the basic principle of pomodoro technique.

Q. What tools does pomodoro technique need?

pomodoro technique only needs a pen, a timer and three pieces of paper.

The purpose of the three pieces of paper is as follows:

1) Activity List Form: List the activities to be carried out recently, and fill in as you like, concise and without sorting.

a good way is that the first word represents the theme type of the activity (although there are many things, they can always be classified into several themes), and the second word behind it clearly expresses what you want to achieve.

The same activity list table can be used for many days, adding new activities and crossing out the completed ones.

2) "Today's To Do" form: Fill in today's date and your name, give yourself a sense of ceremony, and pick out the activities you plan to carry out today from the "Activities List".

in my mind, I changed "I have to finish" to "where to start" and "this project is very big and important" to "I can take a small step".

at this moment, my decision to do an activity is tantamount to an implicit decision not to do hundreds of other activities on my backlog list. Dance with this task for a short time, and then re-evaluate whether it is still the most important.

this watch needs a new one every morning.

it is necessary to distinguish between "activity list" (traditional work list) and "Today's To Do" (extracted commitments) tables.

3) "record" table: record the sampled process indicators so as to improve the process. The same "record" form can be used for many days to compare the daily tracking records.

Q. How does pomodoro technique specifically implement it?

A tomato worker's day has the following five stages:

1) Planning: At the beginning of the day, the most important activities are extracted from the backlog of work (called "activity list") and filled in the "Today to Do" table. This is your self-promise that day.

2) follow-up: after confirming the activities of the day, turn on the tomato clock for 25 minutes, starting from the first item of the activities of the day. In each tomato clock, you should collect some process indicators, such as calculating the number of interruptions encountered.

3) record: at the end of a day, the data collected on that day will be filed and written into the "record" table. If you track the number of interruptions, write down the number of interruptions.

4) processing: extracting useful information from the recorded original data.

for example, you can calculate the average number of tomato hours spent in each activity. If the number is large, you should try to split the activity into smaller and more manageable parts.

or you can calculate the average time that an activity stays in the activity list table, that is, the time from writing down the activity to processing it.

5) visualization: in the end, you have to organize the information in some way, and find out the ideas to improve the process.

In order to avoid making the same mistake the next day, pomodoro technique should do three things before the end of the day: recording, processing and visualization. These daily reviews are the key to improving personal processes.

This has another advantage. At first, you apply pomodoro technique according to the book. After you know your work habits clearly, you can make adjustments, such as a working period of 3min minutes or 45min minutes, so as to form your own set of methods.

Q. What are the rules for implementing pomodoro technique?

There are two rules:

1) Once the tomato bell is started, you must go to the bell.

This is because the tomato clock is atomic-inseparable.

The tomato clock is the smallest monetary unit in this process method, and it is not allowed to use decimals, such as 1/2 or 2.2 tomato clocks. If the task is put down, such as rushing to the bathroom or having an impromptu meeting, whether it is temporary or long-term, the current tomato clock must be invalidated. It can't count, and it shouldn't draw X. You have to turn on a new 25-minute tomato clock to replace it.

2) make sure that you are always doing the most important thing, not something else.

before I start work, I have to turn on the tomato bell, which will ring later to remind me to stop and reconsider the activity I just focused on. Is it still the most important thing? Make sure that you are always doing the most important thing, not something else.

Q. Why does pomodoro technique emphasize doing only one thing at a time?

Roy baumeister, a behavioral psychologist, in his classic book Willpower, used a large number of experimental cases to demonstrate that when setting too many goals, people's decision-making power and willpower will be greatly consumed, and the result will often become out of reach.

when researchers ask people to list their goals, 9% of them will easily list six goals.

When continuously monitoring these subjects who are carrying out six goals at the same time, it is found that:

1. They are constantly caught in irritability and anxiety, and their pain index increases;

2. At the same time, they do less, thinking time takes up the time of action, and they are busy worrying, but they stop;

3. In addition, the physical health of these people has obviously deteriorated, and various negative stress reactions have emerged one after another.

you see, our psychological mechanism determines that it is more effective to concentrate on one thing. Multi-tasks need training, and only a few people with super intelligence and willpower can be competent for non-human task design.

Q. I also want to work hard for half an hour and 4 minutes, but I am always interrupted. What should I do?

interrupts are divided into internal interrupts and external interrupts.

internal interruption, subconscious is intended to delay. Procrastination is like going to the hospital without registering, wasting time and waiting for the situation to deteriorate!

Now let's take a look at the strategies to be taken when there is an internal interruption:

1) First accept it,

2) Then record it (the lower part of the "Today's To-Do" table has been separated, and there is a title called "Unplanned Emergency" under the planned commitment activity),

3) Then immediately continue your work to avoid being really interrupted.

it won't help to turn a blind eye to the internal interruption and think about cheating on yourself. Tracking data is recorded for self-improvement and process improvement.

external interrupts are interactive. E-mail software tinkles, always reminding you that there is new mail and someone is waiting for your reply.

every time you encounter an external interrupt, add the title of the activity requested by the interrupt to the Today To Do table. Write it down, don't let it occupy your mind, and make sure that you will take it into account in your future plans.

The strategy to deal with external interruption consists of the following four steps:

1) Tell: "I am busy at hand."

2) Negotiation: "Can I help you do it on Friday?"

3) Plan: Write down the name of the activity and plan the future tomato clock for it later.

4) reply: call back or reply as promised, otherwise, others will not be able to trust you next time.

Q. how to use different symbols to mark work interruption?

suppose I chose three activities this morning: "preparing invoices", "receiving prizes" and "filling out tax forms".

as a good citizen of an old brand, I definitely give priority to tax forms. After a tomato clock, I drew an X; Two tomato clocks later, I finished the tax return form, and it's time to prepare the invoice.

I drew an X in the second box, because I finished another tomato clock, and I crossed out the activity of "Fill in the tax form" in the "Today's To-Do" table, because it has been finished.

what are ①, ② and ③ in the picture?

① there was an internal interruption while preparing the invoice. I somehow remembered to call Xiao Ming. I wrote it down in the "activity list" form and plan to do it another day. Then, I put an apostrophe on the right side of the heading "Prepare Invoice". Summarize these tracking data at the end of the day.

② Xiaohong called me when filling out the tax form. I told her I was busy and asked if I could call her back later. This is an external interruption, so I drew a minus sign to the right of "Fill in the tax form". Similarly, this tracking data should be summarized at the end of today.

③ After I drew the minus sign, I also wrote "Telephone Little Red" in the "Unplanned Emergency" area.

Q. What should I do if the tomato clock is used up and the work is not finished?

If all the squares are filled before the activity is completed, it is estimated that several tomato clocks will be needed for this activity, but these tomato clocks have been used up and the activity has not been completed. What's next?

at this time, make a second estimate.

Guess how many tomato clocks are needed to complete this activity. Then, next to the previous small box, draw the corresponding number of circles according to the second estimated number. Now, when each tomato bell rings, you can continue to draw an X in the circle.

There are two possible reasons for the inconsistency between the estimated tomato hours in advance and the actual ones:

1) The method or ability of making the estimation needs to be improved;

2) After the work started, new situations and problems appeared, which changed the environment.

Q. What are your understandings in the process of implementing pomodoro technique?

understanding 1: "I didn't expect one thing to take so long". It is estimated that if an activity needs more than seven tomato clocks, it should be split.

cognition 2: "I didn't expect one thing to become more and more complicated". In the course of the activity, sudden minor tasks can be filled in the column of "unplanned emergency", and then make persistent efforts to complete the main activity.

cognition 3: "the mind is occupied by various ideas". On the one hand, extra ideas should be controlled and not interfere with the main tasks, on the other hand, they should be refined in time, which are the sources of work innovation.

cognition 4: "take the estimate as a promise". The time required for an exploration or development activity cannot be predicted in advance and can only be estimated as close as possible. Always take the estimated value as a promise, which will cause unnecessary anxiety to yourself or your colleagues.

To avoid this dilemma, pomodoro technique only calculated the tomato clock. Even if the deadline is imminent, you can spend 25 minutes focusing on what you should do.

However, it is also necessary to communicate at any time so that relevant personnel can see the progress of the matter.

cognition 5: "process management, just talk". The tracking stage is to collect the real data of the whole day's workflow, which can be used for daily review to improve the next day's workflow.

it's up to you to decide which data to track, which varies according to the specific working status, but you can start by calculating the "number of interruptions" and "number of tomatoes completed".

Cognition 6: "Perfectionism is a hindrance". "Wait a minute, there is a more perfect plan" is actually another form of procrastination.

pomodoro technique didn't give "delay" any chance. You can only go ahead and start a tomato clock, without thinking about how to be "perfect". Remember, completion is more important than perfection.

Cognition 7: "Choose some activities in the morning, only to find in the evening that most of the activities completed today were not chosen in the morning". Often, there will be no sense of mission in the planning stage. If you don't have a sense of commitment, you will feel that there is only hard work and no credit when you summarize the day.

more importantly, there is no difference between the "activity list" and the "to-do list". Commitment is the core of pomodoro technique. The "Today's To-Do" form is a daily promise! The selected activities should be feasible.

Tips. The game generally determines "Today's To-Do"

If you are not sure which activities should be filled in the "Today's To-Do" table, why not hold a "Priority Elimination Tournament"?

first, write down the list of contestants-that is, the titles of all activities, with a small note for each activity.

then, regardless of the importance, line up all the notes. Compare the first item with the second item. If I can only do one thing today, which one should I do? After the decision is made, the loser puts it on the left and the winner holds it in his hand.

Next, take out the next note from the original column and continue to compare it with the winner of the previous competition. And so on, game by game.

the winner is always in hand, and the loser is left. When the original column is empty, there will be a winner for the whole season. The top priority activity is the one in hand.

however, there is more than one activity you can do in a day. So start a new season from the loser column on the left. Fill in the selected winners in today's to-do list as a realistic commitment.

Tips. progress table of tomato cheats