Deep Work Vs/Or/And The Pomodoro Technique: Which To Choose When You Want to Work Smarter?
Deep Work and the Pomodoro Technique conundrum feels a bit like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones one; if you are a fan of one, you’d be betraying them by liking the other one. In reality, they work wonders together.
Carl Newport’s Deep Work encourages you to create a distraction-free environment where you can focus intently on your task. Because you are working for 90–120 minutes or even longer, this helps you concentrate on what you want to do so that you can get into the flow. This is great for writers, creatives who need to keep bouncing ideas, scientists or business teams trying to solve a problem, etc.
The Pomodoro Technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s using a tomato-shaped kitchen timer called a Pomodoro — everyone’s mother had one! The use of the timer is to break our work down into more manageable chunks, each piece followed by a short break. Each “Pomodoro” lasts for 25 minutes, followed by a break of 5 minutes. This is great for tasks that are shorter or done in batches. This method is highly recommended to people who find it difficult to focus for too long, get easily off track, or tend to procrastinate. It is particularly popular amongst students.
