2 min read

JET#5 - C.B.F. The Reverse Pomodoro Technique

JET#5 - C.B.F. The Reverse Pomodoro Technique
Photo by Avin CP / Unsplash

While no matter how hard you try to minimize your tech devices, there’s going to be days where you need to use them to go all out to get your work done. While I advise people not to make this an ongoing habit, everyone gets in the situation where they're punching away at the keyboard for hours without a break, where you just need to sprint your way through that financial report. But if you stop and think, a sprinter doesn't sprint endlessly, and they're encouraged to take breaks from training.

Rather than attempting to push yourself to the brink of failure constantly you could use something like the Pomodoro Technique (25m Work | 5m Rest), or if you feel that's not long enough try The Muse variation which is roughly double (52m Work | 17m Rest). Using these techniques are recommended daily, but what about those days where we don't have time for breaks? The colleague has called in sick, and we need to finish that PowerPoint for tomorrow's presentation, or you fell behind on your studies and know that smashing out this assignment will give you a bit of breathing room in the semester.

Things happen; however, I feel the best way to recover after such a hardcore sprint, or on days you just CBF and aren't feeling it is to try the Reverse Pomodoro. It's pretty easy, you just flip the technique on it's head (5m Work | 25m Rest) or if you're using The Muse variant then that's just (17m Work | 52m Rest) so you can recover from that brutal sprint you performed previously. It's enough to make some progress and chip away at work, while still staying in contact with the rest of your team, as opposed to going completely M.I.A.

Let's agree that rest is not sitting at your computer watching YouTube. It's considered unwind time so you could use the time for the following activities to step away from your screen.

  • Reading a Paperback
  • Bodyweight Workouts (or) Yoga Session
  • Meditation
  • Cup of Tea outside
  • Walk the Dog
  • Go for a Jog
  • Power Nap
  • Listen to Music
  • Play a Musical Instrument
  • Learn to Juggle

The list is endless, what is important is that you give your mind a break since you're coming off that recent sprint where you didn't allow yourself any time to relax. The above system also works as a Procrastination Killer, I don't mind invoicing clients, but I dislike the reconciling of accounts. So, I say to myself "Surely you can do 5mins and then take a 25min break" so I give it a shot and if I find I'm on a roll I turn the Reverse Pomo into a Reverse Muse and go for 17mins. Now after 1-2 sessions of the Reversal Method I see I've made progress on our accounts, so I'm ready to snap out of procrastination mode and do regular Pomodoro or Muse sessions where I work for longer, and break for shorter. It's the starting part that is the hardest for many, but once you get going and build that momentum it's easy to tame procrastination.

I don't know how it will work for others, but it's sure helped me chip away at those tasks where I just can't be f#ck3d doing right now; or if I'm coming off an all nighter from work.

Register for Free Newsletter.

Signup to receive insights on how you can get your head out of the clouds.