The Pomodoro Method hacks how you define your tasks

Do you know the Pomodoro Method? Here’s a quick slice of the benefits hidden behind its rituals.

It’s hard to define tasks in the right way.

Here’s productivity advice 101:

Only define goals and tasks you have control over.

Tasks that you don’t have control over, like “get a positive answer to proposal X”, “get thousands of followers,” “finish project in time”, are productivity killers. They mess with what you do well, what you don’t do well, and the rest of the world moving around you.

When you start using the Pomodoro Method, each task will get a lightweight “Pomodoro” layer that transforms how you define progress and success.

The Pomodoro Method redefines how you measure success

I guess you are a Knowledge Worker, so your task list for today resemble something like that:

How many of these tasks depends on something external? What happens when the requirements for Project A change and you have to start over? Do you need to wait for another document before replying to Arthur? Or what if the complexity of the issue you were working on explodes and you need to make three more decisions before finishing your job?

On some days, I might end up with zero tasks completed. Even after seven, eight, or ten hours in front of a computer. This is exhausting.

When I apply the Pomodoro Method I might have ZERO tasks completed, but I still have a few of the effort I accomplished:

That would be a fantastic day. These Xs mean fourteen sessions of 30 minutes of deep focus, that’s 7 hours of work. And two C mean I slid out of focus only twice during the day.

I can tell how much progress I made with the Pomodoro Method, even if I couldn’t complete any task.

Can you see how my task for the day is not “finish X” anymore, but “Make progress on X with all the focus I can give”? We all have some control over the effort we give to something.

This method is crucial to me; I’m trying to have more people use it “the right way.” That’s why I published an interactive step-by-step guide on my website. I’d love to know if this helped you in the comments.