so, i'm on the record in MANY places as being a big fan of the pomodoro method. but, the technique as written has a few drawbacks:
25 minutes can feel VERY short
sometimes you can and/or want to focus for a longer stretch of time
sometimes the break is too short!
and as it happens now, in 2022, i ran across this video on ye old social media.
the video is short (2ish minutes) but here's the gist of the flowmodoro technique - you don't count down the time to a break, but you count up the time you're focused.
so you sit down to work, start a timer running up (like a stopwatch)
once you lose focus (or notice that you lose focus) you pause the timer and see how long you worked
divide that total time by five - and that's the length of your break.
as you keep going, the focus time (usually) decreases, and then you take a longer break to get back to max capacity
i've been experimenting with it and i really like it! especially for deep focus tasks like writing - it's been helpful to work until i'm done, rather than to stop and start. i've also heard from a few clients with ADHD that this works really well IF you know what it looks and feels like when you're distracted and can catch yourself in it. but if you're looking to shake it up, give flowmodoro a try!