How to Focus During These Challenging Times

One of the issues I’m hearing about from clients currently is, “I can’t seem to focus” on my work. I understand. I have the same issue!

I’m having a good experience with a technique I offer clients, and one I use myself. It’s called the Pomodoro Technique and it’s a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. Cirillo used a tomato kitchen timer (remember those?) to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.

These intervals are named pomodoros, the plural in English of the Italian word pomodoro (tomato), after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo used.

There are six steps to Cirillo’s original technique:

1. Decide on the task to be done.
2. Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).
3. Work on the task.
4. Stop work when the timer rings and put a checkmark on a piece of paper.
5. If you have less than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2.
6. After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.

You don’t need a kitchen timer to do this. Just use your smart phone. Find the stopwatch on your phone, start it up and get to work for 25 minutes. If you are distracted before the 25 minutes is up – perhaps you want to check your email or go make a sandwich — the answer is no! You must focus on your task for the full 25 minutes and then you can do whatever you like for your break.

This technique is a way to tame our brains and stay focused. 25 minutes focused, short break, 25 minutes focused, short break. Give it a try.

Happy focusing!