Fact #1: you get more done when you work in short, focused sprints than when giving yourself a lot of time to do all the things. That’s why the Pomodoro Method (and variations of it) works so well. And that’s why people who join our guided coworking sessions are often amazed at how much they got done in just one hour.

Fact #2: work usually takes the amount of time allocated to it. If you have 5 minutes to write an email, you’ll get it done in 5 minutes. If you give yourself one hour to write that same email… it might just take the full hour. Or you could get distracted after 10 minutes, and end up doing something else – not sending the email at all.

Why short, focused sprints work well:

• You cannot help but go in with a plan. When you only have 25 minutes to get stuff done, you better know exactly what you want to achieve and how!

• When done right, you come prepared with more than a plan: experienced “focus sprinters” will take their bathroom break, get a drink, and check their phone messages before the timer starts. That way, they get to fully focus during the 25 or 50 minutes of focused work time.

• The timer gives you permission to turn off Slack and WhatsApp, tell your kids to leave you alone for exactly 25 minutes, to not get another cookie, and not pick up the phone. You can do all that during the break.

• It forces you to take breaks and clear your head. In our coworking sessions, we take a 10-minute break after every 50-minute session. Do we always want to? No, not when we’re in the zone, trying to solve something or think we’re almost done. But the breaks help us not just stretch and do something nice for our eyes and our bodies (starting with getting away from the screen and the office chair); on top of that, we often come to whole new insights that will save us tons of time in the next sprint.

• And you’d be amazed at how much tidying and small chores can be done in just a 10-minute break!

But sometimes, those short sprints don’t work… at all.

I’ve found that is often the case with creative work: while yes, of course, I can create 20 quote cards in Canva in 25 minutes or jot down some thoughts (like this) in under 15 minutes, I HATE it when I’m in the middle of creating a sales page for a client and the timer goes off. Same with writing a long-form blog post or trying to set up a complicated Airtable portal.

At the same time, giving myself unlimited time for creative work doesn’t work either: as Parkinson’s Law states, the work will simply extend to the amount of time I make available for it and without a timer, I can easily spend 3-4 hours getting “in the zone”, sitting in the exact same position (I know that’s bad for my health), not eating, not drinking.

What I do instead for longer, creative work sprints: I set an alarm clock instead of the regular pomodoro timer. And I allow myself to snooze. So instead of a short, focused 25-minute sprint, I get 60 or 90 minutes and if I’m just about done with something, I can give myself a couple of extra minutes by hitting that snooze button.

Note: 60 minutes is ideal, 90 minutes can work if you need time to get “in the zone”. If your work will require more than 90 minutes, it’s best to break it into e.g. 2 blocks of 60 minutes – and go grab a drink, snack, check on your messages, or have a bathroom break in between – that way, you can get back to work without additional distractions.

How I apply this knowledge…

Learning the difference between short sprints and longer focus work has taught me to better plan when I’m doing what. I’ve learned to plan creative or long-form work for days without (important) meetings, while I save boring and tedious stuff (like admin or checking emails) for coworking time when I can just breeze through it with the help of a 25-minute Pomodoro timer.

Try it and let me know how it went!