How to Increase Productivity With Online Timers

Imagine a scenario where you turn on your laptop, ready to tackle tasks that have been piling up for some time, only to find yourself browsing the “For You” page on TikTok.

After half an hour, you decide to break this vicious circle and get into work mode, but you just cannot focus, and as time passes, you feel more and more frustrated about how late and unproductive you are. You’re left with no other choice than to google the problem. You type “How to be productive even when it seems impossible”, and hit the “Search” button and you stumble upon this article.

We will tell you right in the beginning – you can make your brain work even when it refuses to do so, and the solution is quite simple. Online timers can come to the rescue, helping you save the day (and your job) effortlessly.

Online timers can help you stay focused when used correctly.

Have you ever heard about the Pomodoro Technique?

Even though it exists for more than four decades, the Pomodoro Technique only recently became popular – and with a good reason. Turns out, timing yourself to be focused on a single task for 25 minutes, coupled with 10-minute breaks can help us work more effectively, and increase our overall productivity.

This technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in late 1980, who was struggling to complete his university assignments. Overwhelmed by his academic duties, he decided to commit 10 minutes of his time to study. He would measure his “study time” with a tomato-shaped kitchen timer and this is when the technique was born. Later, he went on and wrote a book about the method. Surprising, its biggest straight is its simplicity, which leaves no room for excuses.

A brief explanation of The Pomodoro Technique

As we’ve said, the Pomodoro technique is easy and simple. All you need to have is a notebook (or a piece of paper) and a timer. On a piece of paper, you should list your tasks, making sure you break up the bigger, more complex ones into several, separate tasks. And you should group smaller, faster tasks together.

Then, you need to pick the first task and set your timer for 25 minutes, with a full focus on it until the timer rings. When your session ends, you should mark off one Pomodoro and record what you’ve accomplished. Then you should be able to rest for five minutes.

After you’ve completed four pomodoros, you should take longer breaks ranging from 15 to 30 minutes.

Why is the Pomodoro Technique so effective?

The secret of the Pomodoro Technique hides in the fact that the timer you’ve set for task completion instills a sense of urgency. When we know we have limited time to complete a task, we’re more likely to get things done, compared to the times when we feel like we have an endless amount of time in the workday to get things done and we’re more likely to get distracted and procrastinate. What’s more, by practicing the Pomodoro Technique, we’re actually paving the way for distractions work.

Besides that, there are a few more instances of how the Pomodoro Technique helps you do less while achieving more, including:

It enables us to regain control over our own time. The Pomodoro technique actually urges us to take control of our own time. For instance, during the Pomodoro, we’re focused on a task and fully committed to its completion. If somebody calls us to ask to do something, we can easily use our skills to determine when will be the most suitable time to do so, without interrupting our work. That way, we become more conscious about how we spend our time, and what activities drain our energy and focus.

It increases our accountability. When we start practicing the Pomodoro technique, we’re tracking the things we’ve done over a day, allowing us to have a transparent productivity report we can use to improve our productivity, but also show our managers.

Improves our planning skills. Besides improving accountability, tracking and recording our accomplishments will make it easier for us to plan more accurately in the future. By practicing the Pomodoro Technique regularly, we will get a better sense of how much time we spend on certain tasks, ensuring no deadline gets broken.

It decreases back pain and mental fatigue. Practicing the Pomodoro Technique means we’ll be taking regular breaks that can help us manage stress, re-focus, and recharge. Furthermore, during these breaks, we can go and take a walk around the house or an office, decreasing the amount of sitting time, and the amount of back pain sitting for long hours induces.

It improves motivation. As we slowly tick off the tasks on our to-do list, we feel more energized to continue working at the same tempo. The feeling of accomplishment is so strong, that it motivates us to finish our work faster, without missing deadlines.

Now we get to the part where online timers become important.

Luckily enough, you don’t have to look for old kitchen timers anymore. If you want to practice the Pomodoro Technique you can easily set reminders on your phone or, even better, install a Pomodoro app on your Slack account.

Doropomo comes as a simple Slack integration tool that will help you become more productive and efficient during your work hours. All you need to do is to browse your Slack app directory and prime yourself for a more productive day.

After you add it to your Slack workspace, you’ll be asked to create a to-do list for the day along with a number of Doropomos (Pomodoros) you expect to have for each task on it. Then you just need to start tracking time.

Select the START option and the countdown will begin. But beware: before the clock starts, select the task you want to start working on from your to-do list. In case a distraction occurs while you’re on your task, you can easily record it with a simple /doropomo distraction command and review it later.

After each doropomo, you’ll have a short break to recharge and continue working on your tasks. After a certain number of Doropomos, you’ll start having longer breaks that can be further customized to your needs in the Settings section. What’s more, you can customize how long you want the Doropomo to last, the duration of the short and the long break, but also easily export awesome reports and review your progress. Lastly, after you finish work, you can easily go through all of your completed tasks, and review how long it took you to complete them, and which distractions occurred along the way.

The final verdict.

With all of this being said, we can easily see how online timers such as Doropomo can help us achieve more by working less. The times when we valued time over productivity are long gone. So why wouldn’t you try to become the most productive person you know?

Ana Mladenovic

A cat enthusiast and a cupcake maniac, Ana is a freelance Content Writer passionate about HR, productivity, and team management topics. When she’s not at her keyboard, you can find Ana in the kitchen, trying to make delicious cookies.