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Why Pomodoro Doesn't Work (Better Alternative by an Efficiency Coach) - YouTube
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- What's up, guys? It's Justin here.
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If you're new to the channel,
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I am a doctor here in New Zealand
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and I help students learn
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and manage their time more efficiently.
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If you haven't seen my video
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on why the Pomodoro Technique works,
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then I recommend that you
check that one out first
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because we're gonna take the lessons
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that we extracted from that video
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and then we're gonna apply
it combined with this video
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to create a technique that is better
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than the original
Pomodoro Technique itself.
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If you don't already know
the Pomodoro Technique,
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it is a 25/5-minute work/rest timer.
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It's pretty effective, really famous,
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and a lot of the students that I work with
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have used this in the past
to varying levels of success.
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We, from the first video, already know
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that there are three sort of parts
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to why the Pomodoro Technique works.
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By applying the time
pressure for ourselves,
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it reduces our distractibility
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and increases our concentration
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while also giving us our clear
intention at the beginning
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as well as a nice wrap-up
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with minimal attention residue at the end.
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So as long as we can have a technique
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that applies those things,
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we should be good to go.
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The limitation of the Pomodoro Technique
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is that it doesn't really
talk about the break as much
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and the work time is pretty arbitrary.
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You know, I really don't think
it can get more arbitrary
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than basing it off a tomato-cooking timer.
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And so this is where we
can make a few adjustments.
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We should really be working
for the ideal amount of time
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and then we should be breaking
for the ideal amount of time.
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So when I say ideal, what
exactly am I talking about?
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Well, it kind of depends.
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So let's say that we're wanting to do
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a lot of work very, very quickly
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and we don't care about
the sustainability of that.
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Like, we just have the next couple hours
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to get as much work done as possible.
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In that case, it's not
really gonna matter.
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Most of the time, though,
it's not like that.
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We wanna have a high level of output
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for a long period of time.
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We wanna be consistently productive
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rather than sporadically
productive in bursts.
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So what that means is that
the ideal time to work
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and the ideal time to rest
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is the combination that produces
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the highest overall level
of productive output
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in that given time,
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and the given time is a little bit longer
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than just one cycle of Pomodoro.
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It might be over a week or a couple weeks
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or an entire semester before your exams.
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And if we think about it that way,
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then it changes a lot of things
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about the way that we
think about when to work,
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for how long, how intensely,
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and, likewise, how long and
when we should take breaks.
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So when we work,
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we wanna work at the
highest level of efficiency
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or thereabouts.
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We don't wanna be dropping
down the efficiency graph
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and working at really
low levels of efficiency
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because if that happens,
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then we're training our brain
to work in a suboptimal state
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and we're losing our brain's
ability to work in focus.
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We wanna train an association
with our brain with focus
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so that when we work,
we are highly productive
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and able to activate focus.
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If we keep exposing our brain
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to working inefficiently without focus,
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and especially if that
actually ends up being
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the majority of the time
that our brain is exposed to,
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then our brain is gonna get
better at being less efficient.
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As a rule of thumb,
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I generally teach students to stop working
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once they feel like their
efficiency is less than 50% or so.
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And what 50% feels like
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is that the razor edge of efficiency
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is starting to noticeably dull.
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This is when it feels like we're sluggish,
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we're performing a little bit slowly,
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we're making more mistakes.
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It generally takes less effort
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to be at a high level of performance.
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We can still be at a
high level of performance
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but it takes more effort.
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And the reason that we don't
wanna push further than that
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is because then our recovery
is going to need to be longer.
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So we spend more time
recovering and taking a break
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than we will actually working
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and we don't want that.
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We wanna spend more time working
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and less time taking a break
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so that overall we're
getting more work done.
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So we take a break a little
bit earlier than we're used to,
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when that razor edge of focus
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starts to dull and blunt a little bit.
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The amount of time that we rest for,
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as a rule of thumb,
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I generally say divide the
time you have been working for
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by three to four.
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So if you've been working pretty well
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for the last 30 or 40 minutes,
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then you're going to take
a 15- or 10-minute rest.
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I've found working with students
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and personally experimenting with myself
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that this tends to be a
pretty good level of rest.
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Obviously, if you've
been working for longer,
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you take a longer break.
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So a one-hour block of time,
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you might end up resting
for around 20 minutes.
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And as the day goes on and gets longer,
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the amount of time that
we're working for will reduce
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as our ability to focus reduces
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and our energy is just lower.
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So while we were able to work really well
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for an hour in the morning,
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we might by the end of day
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only be able to work for 20 minutes
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before we are starting to feel
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like that edge is getting dull.
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But the important thing
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is that we were able to work consistently
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at a higher level of focus,
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taking strategically less rest
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than we were working for the entire day
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from the morning through to the evening,
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if that's what's required of us.
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Otherwise, it's very easy
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to have a highly productive morning
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and then a completely inefficient evening
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where overall, if you
look at the efficiency
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of the entire day,
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it really wasn't so good.
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Now the question is,
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what are we doing in our
break to optimize that?
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Well, if you spend that break
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scrolling around on
Facebook and Instagram,
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you're probably not
going to recover enough
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and you're gonna still feel exhausted
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and you won't feel ready
to enter into the next one.
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It's also not gonna utilize the benefit
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that the Pomodoro Technique had,
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which was that we have a clear intention
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coming into the session.
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So what we do here is we
set those short-term goals
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every single block of work.
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So if we're starting something,
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we set a one-hour or
45-minute short-term goal.
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This is what I'm going
to achieve, very clearly.
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You give yourself that amount
of time and you time it
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and if you feel like you're
losing focus earlier than that,
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you just simply stop the timer short
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and wrap up whatever you were on.
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Look at the amount of time
that you have worked for
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and then divide that by three or four
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to get the number that you need to rest.
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During that rest, if you're really tired,
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you wanna do something that's
more active relaxation.
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This could be something like meditation,
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which has a number of
well-researched benefits,
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or you could be doing something else
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that maintains your flow state,
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such as being productive,
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like getting housework done or life admin
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or organizing your room,
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or if you're studying,
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then a thing that I commonly
recommend is go for a stroll.
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Not only does it help relax your eyes
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by looking further than
short-distance books
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and computer screens,
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but it also helps you activate
a higher level of learning
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by connecting ideas a
little bit more casually
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rather than being boxed or tunneled in,
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which there is a tendency to do
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when you're studying sitting at a desk.
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So what that might look like
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and what it looks like for me usually
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is that I'll go for a stroll
with a notebook in hand,
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I'll think about the ideas
that I've been learning about,
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and I'll create some big
widespread mind maps,
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literally mind maps in my mind,
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and identify if there's
any gaps or weaknesses
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or see if I can simplify it.
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I might try to create some analogies,
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which is a higher level
of learning as well.
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By doing this, I'm staying productive,
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maintaining that flow
state that I wanna protect,
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but I'm not compromising
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the actual relaxation that I'm getting
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because I'm not gonna
be stressing about it.
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And honestly, going for that walk
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and just thinking about
things is very enjoyable.
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So you can see that this technique
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takes the best of the Pomodoro Technique
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without the limitations
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where the breaks are a
little bit undirected
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and the time that you
spend is either arbitrary
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or just guesswork.
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A lot of people will say,
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"I like to work for 50
minutes and then 10 minutes,"
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but does that always work?
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It won't always work.
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It depends on the day,
it depends on your mood,
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it depends on your diet and your sleep
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and the subject that
you might be working on.
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So there are a lot of variables in it.
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So it's better to be calibrated
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to how deeply you feel you are focused
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and then create time pressure around that
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to enhance that focus
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and then use the breaks
strategically to recover
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rather than sticking to a
very rigid work/rest time,
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which, based on the fact
that it's not flexible,
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often won't work for you.
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So here's my challenge to you.
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Use this method of work/rest timing
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for your next big, long
study or work session.
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Break it up into smaller chunks
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and then set clear goals and intentions
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at the beginning of each chunk.
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Use your breaks strategically
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and apply the time pressure
throughout the entire period.
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See how that goes and let me know,
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leave a comment if you've ever
used a technique like this
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or a variation of it
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and how it worked for you.
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So far, this technique that
I've just explained to you
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has worked for every student
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that I've ever worked
with who has tried it.
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It's consistently been more effective
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than the Pomodoro Technique
or other variations of it.
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And for me, I find that it's
very flexible, very dynamic,
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and actually makes work and
study a lot more enjoyable
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because it's fun to be focused, in a way.
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It feels good. It's
satisfying, it's fulfilling.
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Anyway, let me know your experience
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in the comments down below.
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Make sure to leave a like and subscribe.
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It really helps with
the YouTube algorithm.
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And until next time, stay efficient.
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(gentle hip hop music)
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