Pomodoro when you work from home

At home nobody tells you when work starts, when it pauses and when it ends. The timer can do that job.

The problem at home

An office gives the day a shape without your effort: you arrive, people around you are working, lunch happens, you leave. At home the shape is missing. Work spreads thinly over the whole day and evening, mixed with the doorbell, the kitchen, the television in the next room and the feeling that you are never fully working and never fully off. Timed rounds put the shape back.

Start with a small ritual

Choose two or three actions that mean "work begins": sit at the same place, fill a bottle of water, write today's three main tasks on paper, put the phone across the room. Then start the first pomodoro at once, on an easy part of the first task. The first round of the day is the hardest to begin; once it is done, the second follows.

Tell the household your rhythm

People at home cannot see that you are busy. Explain the pattern simply: "When the timer is running I cannot talk. Every 25 minutes I get five minutes, and I am free at one o'clock for an hour." Children understand a visible timer better than a closed door. Some families put a sign on the table or door: one side says working, the other says break. In return, keep your side of the promise: when the break comes, really be available.

Use breaks for the house, not the screen

Home has an advantage over the office: a break can do something useful and restful together. Put clothes in the machine, water the plants, chop vegetables for lunch, walk to the gate. Five minutes of movement away from the screen rests the eyes and the mind. What does not rest you is moving from the work screen to the phone screen. The page on breaks has a list of good five-minute breaks.

Fix the long break

After four rounds, stop for 20 to 30 minutes and, once a day, for a proper lunch away from the desk. People working from home often eat at the keyboard and then wonder why the afternoon is slow. A fixed lunch time also helps the household plan around you.

Decide the end before you begin

Write the finishing time on the morning's paper. In the last pomodoro of the day, do three things: note where each task stands, write tomorrow's first task, and close the work applications. Then stop. Without a clear end, work follows you to the sofa and the bed, and the next morning begins tired.

A sample day

• 9:00 Start ritual, then two rounds on the main task.
• 10:00 Messages and calls for half an hour.
• 10:30 Two more rounds, then a long break.
• 12:00 Meetings or shared work.
• 1:00 Lunch away from the desk.
• 2:00 Four rounds on the second task, with a long break after them.
• 4:30 One round of small jobs, one round to close the day.

That is ten pomodoros, a full and honest day. Build your own version with the day planner, and use the timer to run it.

If you live in one room

When the desk, the bed and the dining table are the same place, mark the change with small signals: a particular chair, a lamp that is on only during work, a cloth spread on the table. Clear the work things away at the end of the day. The signals do the job that a separate room would do.

Questions people ask

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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.