Taking breaks is an important part of modern work. Thanks for helping raising awareness for this. I’ve completed thousands of Pomodoro sessions over the last 10+ years and can confirm your findings.
I used to just get outside and run fast until I was fatigued and had to stop. But I bought one of these watches that tracks your workout, heart rate, and so on. By keeping my heart rate from going crazily high while running, I was able to run further immediately.
Of course, we gain endurance with time. But we can get results from controlling our pace immediately.
Thanks for the article, you just gave me a good idea to write about :)
When you run too fast, your body accumulates lactic acid. Once you cross your lactate threshold, your body produces more acid than it can flush out. Debt accumulates. Only slowing down or taking a break can help.
Thanks for the comment, Fran. Likewise, I find great ideas in your articles, too!
Personally, I find it easier to let go in moments when I don’t have a solution to change my thoughts, but much less so when I feel like I’m riding a wave. Also, I never had heard of “productivity debt”very interesting Thank you
I’ve never thought about it as "productivity debt" before. That perfectly describes the cycle I often get stuck in. It’s so much harder to snooze an alarm when a friend is waiting for you to take a breath! Thank you for the simple, helpful advice, Michał.
I only started using a Pomodoro app this week, mainly because I couldn't focus. And I'll keep doing it for the same reasons you mentioned. Sharing it with a colleague is a good idea; I'll suggest that. We all agree that breaks are incredibly helpful, but they require discipline. Or perhaps a simple technique that forces us to take a break.
And the breaks are already really challenging because I don’t want to fill them with another activity. I was thinking about a short 5min meditation or breathing exercise. What do you think?
Yes, it can break your flow when the timer ends. It depends on your preference and how you handle interruptions. My default is to make the sessions longer (snooze my timer) when I'm unhappy with them finishing too early.
I've finished reading Deep Work by Cal Newport. He divides work into two categories. The first is "shallow" work, which includes administrative tasks and answering comments. The Pomodoro technique is great for these tasks.
For "deep" work, he recommends just a block of uninterrupted time, for example, an hour or two each morning. I still like to use the Pomodoro technique even for more demanding things. These short breaks help me remember to drink water or step away from the computer.
I fill my breaks with many different things. The only rule is just to detach from work for a moment.
Sometimes I just stand up and walk around, and sometimes I go to drink water. During multiplayer Pomodoro sessions, we had five minutes of small talk. Sometimes I turn on a specific song just to listen to it.
Both meditation and a short breathing exercise sound great, @Juliane Ruscher.
I tested several apps and I am using it now consistently and it gave me a lot focus and energy back. But I was wondering if this technique distracts the flow state. What do you think?
Loved it. I suffer also from productivity debt as you call it. There is a delicate balance between pushing too much to complete something and unadvertedly mortgaging tomorrow's productivity. Thanks for the article.
Taking breaks is an important part of modern work. Thanks for helping raising awareness for this. I’ve completed thousands of Pomodoro sessions over the last 10+ years and can confirm your findings.
That is plenty of experience! Thank you for sharing your take.
Something similar happened to me about running.
I used to just get outside and run fast until I was fatigued and had to stop. But I bought one of these watches that tracks your workout, heart rate, and so on. By keeping my heart rate from going crazily high while running, I was able to run further immediately.
Of course, we gain endurance with time. But we can get results from controlling our pace immediately.
Thanks for the article, you just gave me a good idea to write about :)
You can make your running even more like Pomodoro by following the Galloway method. It’s great. I ran a marathon this way 🙃
Perfect example! :) Just for any non-runners reading, the method is basically: "Run-Walk-Run."
Running is a perfect analogy for this!
When you run too fast, your body accumulates lactic acid. Once you cross your lactate threshold, your body produces more acid than it can flush out. Debt accumulates. Only slowing down or taking a break can help.
Thanks for the comment, Fran. Likewise, I find great ideas in your articles, too!
Personally, I find it easier to let go in moments when I don’t have a solution to change my thoughts, but much less so when I feel like I’m riding a wave. Also, I never had heard of “productivity debt”very interesting Thank you
Riding waves of productivity feels great. But when these rides get too long, I accumulate that exact debt.
Thanks for your take!
I’ve never thought about it as "productivity debt" before. That perfectly describes the cycle I often get stuck in. It’s so much harder to snooze an alarm when a friend is waiting for you to take a breath! Thank you for the simple, helpful advice, Michał.
You are welcome, Doina.
Thank you for taking the time to share this.
Taking a break can be a great opportunity to disconnect for a bit and just be in the moment (which connects to your recent article).
I only started using a Pomodoro app this week, mainly because I couldn't focus. And I'll keep doing it for the same reasons you mentioned. Sharing it with a colleague is a good idea; I'll suggest that. We all agree that breaks are incredibly helpful, but they require discipline. Or perhaps a simple technique that forces us to take a break.
Regarding techniques, I sometimes let my laptop shut down when the battery dies. It forces a break, too.
Thanks for sharing your take, Juliane.
I appreciate it!
I hope Pomodoro helped you to focus this week.
And the breaks are already really challenging because I don’t want to fill them with another activity. I was thinking about a short 5min meditation or breathing exercise. What do you think?
Yes, it can break your flow when the timer ends. It depends on your preference and how you handle interruptions. My default is to make the sessions longer (snooze my timer) when I'm unhappy with them finishing too early.
I've finished reading Deep Work by Cal Newport. He divides work into two categories. The first is "shallow" work, which includes administrative tasks and answering comments. The Pomodoro technique is great for these tasks.
For "deep" work, he recommends just a block of uninterrupted time, for example, an hour or two each morning. I still like to use the Pomodoro technique even for more demanding things. These short breaks help me remember to drink water or step away from the computer.
I fill my breaks with many different things. The only rule is just to detach from work for a moment.
Sometimes I just stand up and walk around, and sometimes I go to drink water. During multiplayer Pomodoro sessions, we had five minutes of small talk. Sometimes I turn on a specific song just to listen to it.
Both meditation and a short breathing exercise sound great, @Juliane Ruscher.
I tested several apps and I am using it now consistently and it gave me a lot focus and energy back. But I was wondering if this technique distracts the flow state. What do you think?
Loved it. I suffer also from productivity debt as you call it. There is a delicate balance between pushing too much to complete something and unadvertedly mortgaging tomorrow's productivity. Thanks for the article.
Yes, the balance is delicate. I hope you find that balance as often as possible. Thanks for the kind words, Santiago!