Pomodoros don’t work for me

(If you’re unfamiliar, the Pomodoro technique is a time management method. You focus for 25 minutes–that’s called a Pomodoro–then take a 5 minute break, and repeat. After 4ish Pomodoros, you take a longer break, like 20-30 minutes.)

After years of trying Pomodoro to get crap done, I’m chalking it up as a failure. Here’s why it doesn’t work for me:

• Break time pops up and interrupts my flow when I’m in the zone.
• 15 or 45 minute meetings chop up my day so that it doesn’t neatly fit Pomodoros.
• Does chatting on Slack count as work or a break? Depends on the conversation.
• Starting a task is the hard part. Arbitrary breaks just force me to restart more often.

So I’m ditching it.

If any of this resonates for you, check out the “flowtime technique” which just means you work on one thing until you’re tired, then take a break. (Ain’t it a sign of the times that the common sense way to do work needs a pithy name? But to be fair, there’s slightly more to it than that.)