Pomodoro Timer

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

Invented by the Italian Francesco Cirillo, the Pomodoro Technique is a time-management method aimed at improving productivity by breaking down working hours into smaller intervals of 25-minute work periods and 5-minute short breaks. After four work intervals, a longer break, usually 15 minutes, follows before starting all over again.

The effectiveness of the pomodoro technique lies in its view of time as being made up of indivisible units rather than it being an endless continuum. This is exactly why it takes the name pomodoro, Italian for tomato. One pomodoro, or tomato, whichever way you would like to look at it, is the 25-minute work duration.

While still a student at the time, the inventor of the technique found it hard to concentrate on his studies. So he devised a way to slay the demons of distraction, and he started with only two minutes on his kitchen timer. What he realized was that once he started dividing time into smaller units and aim to concentrate only for this duration, he could actually focus. The effect was that these smaller units would eventually build up into significant amounts of productive time, and there we had it: the pomodoro technique.

Attracting scientific studies into its effectiveness, the technique has gained popularity and is now being embraced by many as a way to beat proctrastination and boost productivity. It is being championed as a tool to sharpen focus on tasks and an effective tool to combat distractions especially in today's world of TikTok, Instagram, and other social apps.

What is a Pomodoro Timer?

A pomodoro timer is a timer that enables you to break down your work hours into smaller, manageable chunks of work time (usually minutes), interrupted by shorter breaks and a longer break at the end, all of which complete a pomodoro lap. By repeating these laps over and over, you end up becoming more productive while avoiding negative consequences of continuous working, such as burnout.

Whereas a conventional pomodoro timer divides time into 25-minute work periods, 5-minute short breaks and 15-minute long breaks, modern pomodoro timers tend to make these chunks more customizable.

The customization is especially useful since not all people have the same levels of focus. While some individuals tend to focus for longer durations while taking longer breaks at the end, some individuals yet prefer shorter bouts of productive periods interupted by short breathers. Regardless of your preference, a pomodoro timer is an essential tool to help you work in an organized and predictable manner.

Appreciating diversity amongst individuals, I built a completely customizable pomodoro timer that works with pretty much every personality. What is more, using the timer is easy-peasy!

How Does the Pomodoro Timer Work?

Before hitting the "start timer" button, you first of all need to decide on the task you need to work on. Decide upfront the amount of time the task at hand is going to consume, then decide the amount of pomodoros you need to allocate it. This way, you can be able to have a predetermined length of each pomodoro, the appropriate rest periods, and the overall amount of time you need to put aside for the task.

The default work periods (or pomodoros) are 25 minutes long. Each pomodoro is followed by a 5-minute break except for the fourth one which is followed by a longer break of 15 minutes. To use this default timer, simply click on the "start timer" button and start grinding. At the end of the lap, you will have worked for 100 minutes and rested for 30 minutes. To start all over again, click on the "start timer" button again.

To use different durations for work periods and rest periods, you will have to customize the timer. Click on the "edit timer" button and select your preferred length for work periods, short breaks, and long breaks. All periods are in minutes.

Next, select the number of "Deep works", which is the total count of the work intervals. These deep work periods will be interrupted by shorter breaks; a longer break will come at the end of the last work period. This completes a single lap. Please note that if you choose only one interval of deep work, it will be followed soon by the long break rather than by the short break.

If you want to work for another lap with similar settings, make sure you select more than one laps under the number of laps field. You can choose to run these laps continuously meaning the next lap will start running automatically after the end of the previous one. If you prefer to restart the lap manually, simply uncheck the "run continuously" option.

That's it! Hit the "start timer" button and get into deep work! The timer will alert you when it's time for each session, be it a short break, a long break or next deep work round.

Whom is the Pomodoro Timer for?

The pomodoro timer is pretty much meant for everybody, but is especially useful for those people who find it difficult to concentrate. If you're susceptible to finding yourself in any of the following situations, then you could be a perfect candidate for the timer:

• You find it hard to concentrate on one task at a time.
• You find it difficult to start working on a given task due to the perceived scale of it.
• Instead, you start finding alternative tasks to distract yourself — useless chores, making coffee, scrolling...
• You're easily distracted by group chats, notifications, and wild thoughts.
• You're eager to find out how the pomodoro technique might positively change the way you work.

Want More?

Our pomodoro timer is absolutely free to use. With the tool, you can use the default pomodoro timings or adjust the timings to match your unique personality. However, if you want more features, you should consider trying out our premium offering which has the following features:

• To do list that allows you to add tasks and allocate each task the number of pomodoros it will take to finish.
• Timing your working — get to know how much it takes to complete given tasks and how much time you will need for similar future tasks.
• Get daily, weekly, monthly and yearly reports indicating the number of hours you've managed to be productive.
• And so much more.