Kicks & Tricks - The Pomodoro Technique!

I really only know one trick for writing. Well, that's not true at all, but it's the only thing I think of as a trick. Because this really is one. It's not a trick you do in your writing, it's a trick to get you to write. And this is a trick that, if you're anything like me, can boost your daily wordcounts exponentially. I'm serious.

Are you ready for it? Because it's so simplistic, it's mind-blowing.

It's called the Pomodoro Technique. You can go to the official website and read up on it, and even buy a book if you want to, but here's the gist of it:

1) Write for 25 minutes.

2) Take a break (away from your desk!!!) for 5 minutes.

3) Rinse and repeat.

This isn't like a writing sprint. I mean, it is, but it's not. When I do sprints with a friend, we look at the clock at :00 and say we'll report back at :15 or :25 and see who got more words. Writing sprints make me write more than I normally would, sure, but that little timestamp at the bottom right of my computer screen is not intimidating, folks. It's there all the time.

So here's the real secret of the Pomodoro Technique: You need a timer.

That doesn't really sound like a secret, but believe me, it is. Because as non-intimidating as that timestamp at the bottom of my screen is? That's how very, very intimidating a timer that counts down can be.

Think about it. When do you really see something counting down (if you're not some sort of racing athlete, which let's face it, we're not—we're ninjas)? The answer is in the movies. When something bad will happen if the timer gets to zero and you haven't done your job.

A timer leads to all sorts of productivity, because you don't want that bad thing to happen. Just imagine that not hitting your daily word count is like setting off a small series of explosions that are going to mess with your productivity and accountability all the way down the line, because if you don't hit your word count today, what's going to make you hit it tomorrow?

I don't know how this happens, but somehow when I see those numbers start to go down, my word count automatically goes up. Even if I had no idea what I was going to write when I hit the "go" button. Before I discovered the Pomodoro technique, I could maybe write 200-500 words if I sat and stared at my manuscript for half the day. When I Pomodoro, I can write up to 2000 words in two hours. (This was never remotely possible before) I don't always have two hours, but you get my drift. Other people get a lot more done, but I'm a slow-poke.

As you can see by the picture above, this technique earns its name from the handy little kitchen tomato timers that you're probably familiar with, but if you don't have a tomato timer, (Pomodoro is a type of tomato, by the way), there are free Pomodoro apps and desktop timers specifically for Pomodoro work sessions. My favorites are Pomodroido on my phone, and this web-browser timer. They are my number one writing trick.

Do you have any tricks to get you to write?