Get More Done With the Pomodoro Technique

Quick Win

Scheduling a chunk of time to focus on one thing — with a short break after — helps with focus and productivity.

Try This Today

• 25 Minutes: Choose one task to work on. Set a timer for 25 minutes. Focus only on the task at hand until the timer goes off.
• 5 Minutes: Give yourself a 5-minute break, ideally away from your work area. Step outside for a moment, stretch, take some deep breaths, grab a snack — whatever helps you decompress and reset.
• Repeat: Continue with the 25/5 cycle until you’ve accomplished what you need to get done.

Why

People who followed a similar schedule, taking 5-minute breaks after every 20 minutes of work, completed more tasks than those who worked without scheduled breaks, according to a study of 16 undergraduate students published in 2023 in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. The National Institutes of Health highlighted the effectiveness of the Pomodoro technique in 2020, explaining that “the idea is to break bigger tasks into smaller ones with uninterrupted focused work, followed by breaks to relax your mind.”