Do you use the Pomodoro Technique?

Hi everyone,

I am wondering if some of you uses the Pomodoro technique from time to time, or frequently, in order to improve your focus and then you productivity.

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Here is a good video that explains what it is of you don't know what is the Pomodoro technique.

I was using this technique earlier and stopped for a while.
But as I wanted to use it again, I came quickly at looking for a good app that does simple Pomodoro for Linux.
Unfortunately every app around here is either full of setup and features or requires Java or something similar that I don't want to install on my computer.

Then I come with a good idea about it ;-)

"why can't I just use the terminal to set up a timer in the terminal that sends a notification when it has ended?"

As always, pretty easy with the terminal.

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1. Step 1 - Start the 25 minutes work session

sleep 1500 && notify-send "Your pomodoro session just ended. Have a well deserved 5 minutes break"

1500 seconds are 25 minutes. Then the terminal will display a notification that says "Your pomodoro session just ended. Have a well deserved 5 minutes break"

2. Step 2 - Start the well deserved, guilt free break

sleep 300 && notify-send "Back to work"  # a short, 5-minute break

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3. Step 3 - Improvement

But, you can also do both launch timer and break timer at once.

sleep 1500 && notify-send "Your pomodoro session just ended. Have a well deserved 5 minutes break"; sleep 300 && notify-send "Back to work"

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4. Step 4 - Alias (I am a lazy person ;-) )

Add this to your alias file

pomodorostrt='sleep 1500 && notify-send "Your pomodoro session just ended. Have a well deserved 5 minutes break"'
pomodorobrk='sleep 300 && notify-send "Back to work"'
pomodoro='sleep 1500 && notify-send "Your pomodoro session just ended. Have a well deserved 5 minutes break"; sleep 300 && notify-send "Back to work"'

You can change the alias to something shorter. But as I have the autocompletion, I prefer to make it clear. :-)

And then you can just type either pomodorostrt or pomodorosbrk to start the work session or the break or pomodoro to launch a complete Pomodoro session.

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Another Improvement

You can use zenity (man zenity for further explanation) to have a more sticky notification.

sleep 1500 && zenity --warning --text="25 minutes passed"

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So do you think you can use the terminal to improve you productivity?
Do you use the pomodoro technique and do you think that it has improve your productivity or focus at some point?
Are you using any other time-management technique?

Comments

[Adrian B.G.]

Kind of, but my time is usually 40-50min. I think that hourly brakes are the perfect mix between focus work and healthy work style.

Also in the bash you can detach the process from the current terminal with an & or run the command in a screen (so you can close the terminal or use it for other commands).

sleep 3600 && notify-send "get out!" &

or run the notify each hour

watch -n 3600 notify-send "Get Out!"

[Rémi Lavedrine]

Excellent.

[Adrian B.G.]

Although I forgot to add, it is a cool idea but I never used the terminal for this, rather I had alarm setups (monday to friday, each hour) on my phone. After a while (few months) my internal clock got used to hourly brakes and I didn't need any alarm, I just knew is time to take a break.

They actually started as a reminder to drink water (I had some issues because of it), and I had to retrain my brain/body :D.

[rhymes]

I do, I use the pomodoro technique just to help me detach and rest my eyes. We've all had super long coding sessions, this technique helps me move from the chair at regular intervals :D

I don't know about productivity, it's more about health for me ;D

[Phil]

This reminds me of when I was staying in a hotel with no WiFi without my phone charger. I needed to set an alarm, but all I had was my laptop. I ultimately ended on

$ sleep ["I don't remember how many seconds eight hours is"] && say "wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up" 

scared me senseless when it went off, but I woke up on time.

[Max Antonucci]

That's a creative use of the terminal and, having just tested how the voice sounds on my computer, I don't blame you for being scared when it woke you up haha.

[Vlastimil Pospichal]

pomodorostrt='sleep 1500 && notify-send "Your pomodoro session just ended. Have a well deserved 5 minutes break"'
pomodorobrk='sleep 300 && notify-send "Back to work"'
pomodoro='pomodorostrt; pomodorobrk'

[Rémi Lavedrine]

That is what I have in my .bash_aliases file indeed. ;-)

[Chris🌱Parnin]

Nice simple hack! I wrote about how I use pomodoro as part of my work philosophy Deliberate Work.

For timers, I built a tool that uses a usb light (blink1), to help have an ambient light timer. Discussion of tasklights here.

[Jonathan Mourtada]

I use it when I'm having a hard time to focus. It helps to think that "just give it 25 minutes then you'll have your break".

[Stargator]

Agreed, I used it recently when I really needed to focus and allow myself breaks.

[Devin W. Leaman]

I've wanted to try this for some time but I find it difficult to stop myself if I'm in a groove. It's one thing to get myself going for 20 - 30 minutes but once I do, I'm not fond of stopping just for the sake of a break.