Pomodoro Timer

Where the method comes from

The Pomodoro Technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, when he was a university student. He used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer (pomodoro is Italian for tomato) to commit to short, uninterrupted blocks of study. The classic pattern is 25 minutes of focused work followed by a short break, with a longer break after four rounds. The idea is not speed. It is to make a big task feel small enough to begin, and to protect your attention for one block at a time.

How this timer runs a cycle

• Focus: 25 minutes by default.
• Short break: 5 minutes.
• Long break: 15 minutes after four completed focus sessions.
• Each phase starts when you press Start, so you are never thrown into the next block mid-sentence. Skip this phase moves on if you finish early.

Open Customize your cycle to change it: focus from 1 to 180 minutes, breaks from 1 to 60 minutes, and the long break after 1 to 12 sessions. Press Save cycle settings.

Tips for a session that actually works

• Write the task down before you start. "Draft the intro" works better than "work on report".
• Park interruptions. When a thought pops up, note it on paper and return to the task. Deal with the list during the break.
• Make the break a real break. Stand up, drink water, look out of a window. Scrolling a phone often feels like rest but rarely is.
• Adjust honestly. If 25 minutes is too short for deep work, try 45 or 50 with a 10-minute break. If you struggle to start, try 15. The best interval is the one you will repeat.

The human side

Many people do not put things off because they are lazy. They put them off because the whole job looks too big. Agreeing to just one Pomodoro, then deciding afterwards, is often enough to break that. The counter of completed sessions is also a quiet record that you did show up today.