PomodoroHow to use the planner
- List what you will work on today. One row for each subject or task. Be specific where you can: "Accounts: depreciation sums" is better than "Accounts".
- Estimate the pomodoros. Guess how many rounds each needs. If a task needs more than about six, split it into two rows. The guide on estimating tasks explains how to get better at this.
- Set the start time and the lengths. The planner begins with 25 minutes of focus, 5 minutes of short break and a 20 minute long break after every four rounds. Change them to match the rhythm you use.
- Press "Make my timetable". You get every round and break with its clock time, the total focus time and the finishing time.
- Print it, copy it, or send it to a study partner on WhatsApp. Then open the timer and begin.
Making a plan you can keep
The planner will happily schedule twenty rounds. You should not. A plan is useful only if it comes true, and the most common mistake is to plan the day you wish you could have instead of the day you will have. Start from what you actually completed yesterday or last week and add at most one or two rounds. If today has classes, travel or a family event, plan fewer.
Leave gaps on purpose. The timetable runs the rounds back to back from your start time, but real days have meals, calls and errands. If you know lunch is at one, make two plans: one for the morning and one for the afternoon, each with its own start time. Keep one round in the day unassigned for things that turn up.
Which subject goes first
Put the hardest or most important work in the first row so that it lands in the first rounds, when you are freshest. With "take turns" switched on, the planner gives two rounds to each subject in order and then comes round again, which stops one subject from swallowing the whole morning. If a task needs a long unbroken run, such as a full past paper, untick the box so that its rounds stay together.
After the day
In the evening, compare the plan with what happened. Which tasks took more rounds than planned? What interrupted you? Two minutes of this each night is how tomorrow's plan improves. For the week as a whole, see weekly planning; for an examination, the exam study plan shows how to spread a whole syllabus over the days you have.
Questions people ask
How many pomodoros can I fit in a day?
Most people manage 8 to 12 rounds of real concentration on a free day, and fewer on a school or office day. The planner shows a caution above 12 so that the plan stays realistic.
What does "take turns between subjects" do?
It places two rounds of the first subject, then two of the next, and so on, coming back to each until its rounds are used. Untick it to finish each subject before starting the next.
Is my plan saved?
The subjects and numbers you type are remembered in your own browser, so they are there when you come back. Nothing is sent to us.
Guides
An independent site. The method described here was created by Francesco Cirillo, and Pomodoro Technique is his registered trademark. This site is not connected with him or his company. The timer is free, needs no login and keeps your settings and counts only in your own browser.