Say if one day I'm extra unmotivated and it takes me 20 minutes to get into it and I start this timer, stare at my code, tinkering with small things, like indentation, or something that really doesn't matter, then I finally get into it and start doing something productive, 5 minutes passes and I need to "take a short break" which then causes me to lose focus... Then I'm right back at phase one... I prefer to either just force myself into the zone, or let myself get to the point on my own... Then stay there, not stop.

Like Thursday I had no motivation or anything, sat at my computer screwing around from 8AM until 2PM when I finally started being productive.... But then there's days like Friday and yesterday where I jumped out of bed and was productive until I had to force myself to bed at 2AM.

I do feel that it can be contextually helpful, in that it works well when you have tons of small tasks out of the way - sometimes that's the best way to prevent the 8-2 situation you describe.

There is a deeper philosophy to it. Check out this concept called 'Flow'. Its pretty much the opposite of this philosophy.

Pomodoro technique is one of the 3 critical pieces for my actually surviving life. My current favorite tool for it is

http://www.marinaratimer.com

It's free, it allows you to either use "pure" pomodoro, or in my case when I started with my coach, we used much shorter pomodoros of 15 minutes to train myself to get started.

Like many people here, I soon found myself frustrated with the break in flow, so I often start with a 15 minute pomodoro, then a 25, and then move to 40 minutes. After four pomodoros one takes a 15 min break and that's good for emails, etc.

During the 5 minute breaks I try not to do anything on the computer. I stand up, stretch, breathe, write anything down that came up. Look out a window to rest my eyes. Hit the restroom. (I also keep a pad of paper and a pen handy for "stray" thoughts that come up while working. )

in short, I highly recommend this method, because if it helps someone with ADHD, it's got help anyone who's feeling distracted. Don't feel like it has to be so rigid, adapt it for your cognitive style.

The technique described in this post is more or less the exact technique I naturally use myself in order to get things done. Sometimes, it doesn't work. Usually, this is because I am over my work capacity for the day. In this instance, the only thing which works is to either slog through and get terrible productivity per hour, or just take the rest of the day off. The latter is usually the best option, which results in better concentration the next day. But eventually, it really comes down to just sitting down and getting stuff done. If you are consistently unable to do this, maybe you should consider whether you are in the right line of work?

You say that as though there's nothing to be learned about self-discipline or as though there's no way to increase your ability in self-discipline by using a technique you don't already know.

There are lots of little techniques and tricks that people can use to fake or encourage self-discipline until neural pathways build that make the whole concept come more naturally. The Pomodoro technique works for lots of people.

Personally, I've found that I can induce a lot of focus by putting on a pair of noise-canceling headphones and listening to music without words. I have a rule whereby I can have my headphones ONLY if I'm doing real work.

The other thing that works really well for me is the "just one little thing" strategy. If I'm avoiding some task because it's huge and daunting, I decide to close my HN browser window for a few minutes and just do one little thing to make progress on the overall task. Nothing big, just one little thing. Maybe if I'm going to start a new web site, I decide to just create the repository or import a template.

It's a good trick since typically what ends up happening is that one thing is easy so I decide to do another... and another. Before I know it, I'm engrossed in the task and feeling good about making progress.

This is a little bit like saying that if you aren't as good at basketball as you wish you were, that it's a simple question of getting a ball to go through a hoop.

Best is to use a sitting desk, but to get up every so often and move around:

   Sit to do computer work. Sit using a height-adjustable,
   downward titling keyboard tray for the best work posture,
   then every 20 minutes stand for 2 minutes AND MOVE. The
   absolute time isn’t critical but about every 20-30 minutes
   take a posture break and move for a couple of minutes.
   Simply standing is insufficient. Movement is important
   to get blood circulation through the muscles. And movement
   is FREE! Research shows that you don’t need to do vigorous
   exercise (e.g. jumping jacks) to get the benefits, just
   walking around is sufficient. So build in a pattern of
   creating greater movement variety in the workplace (e.g.
   walk to a printer, water fountain, stand for a meeting,
   take the stairs, walk around the floor, park a bit further
   away from the building each day).

Note how they recommend getting up every 20 to 30 minutes--a perfect fit for a Pomodoro timer.

I find that the timer doesn't interrupt being in the zone--I can just keep thinking about what I'm working on while I walk around for a couple minutes, and the fitness break is essentially no interruption at all. If I'm not in the zone, then after the break I will do a Pomodoro-like thing and check email and reevaluate what I should be doing before getting back to work.

The app that I recommend for this is Ambience, which exists on ios and Android for 99 cents. You have access to a huge number of ambient sounds, from standard white/brown/blue noise to audio recorded in random coffee shops, even subway stations around the world. You can also mix sounds and create playlists and there's a handy timer:

http://ambianceapp.com/

Best 99 cent purchase I've ever made, and probably the main use of my smartphone besides photos and talking.

One of the top comments implied that this technique is primarily for those who procrastinate. This is not necessarily true, at least not in my case. There are studies (apologize for the lack of sources, on the bus) that show that your brain - although it may not feel like it - stagnates in regards to concentration after 25-35 minutes.

This technique can therefore force you to split up your work into intervals causing your brain to rest. To me this has proven to be very effective, especially during programming. You will be surprised how quickly you return to the "the-zone".

1. Pick a task, and explicitly state my goal. You could write it down, but the point is just to have a better than high level idea of what you're doing it, so I just usually say it out loud to myself. For example, "Make the submission form for the user signup page".

2. Spend 30 minutes uninterrupted working on this goal - even if I'm stuck, poke at things, read documentation, do anything to move forward in the task even if just a little bit.

3. After the 30 minute mark, keep working on the task until I loose steam - and not necessarily at the task at hand. Sometimes I'll keep working for another four hours at this point, other times I'll stop at the 30 minute mark to regather my thoughts (but never before). Take a break, and then GOTO 1.

I do this with more than just programming - practicing piano, reading, running, cleaning, etc.

I find that the first 20 minutes of working on things are the hardest, since I'm still in the mode of formulating a problem, and filtering out information, distractions, etc. Building focus. So I would take breaks, surf hacker news, etc. Eventually I would get through that 20 minutes, but it would take a lot longer than 20 minutes. This forces me to get through that 20 minutes.

As a programmer, it can be hard to separate work from rest time (ie. does a 2 minute hacker news break while unit tests are running count as work, a break, or is it just wasted time?), and so I am trying to be more clear to myself about separating the two.

While I've never tried the pomodoro technique, at the surface it strikes me as too rigid. Some days I can work for hours on end without blinking - so all that I need is that single catalyst to kick off a day of productive work. Others, it takes all of my will power to write five lines of code. So I want something that pushes me to start, but gets out of the way after that.

Does anyone have experience with similar things?

1) getting "in the zone" takes less and less time. It used to take me most of my 20 minutes to actually get focused. Now, 3 or 4 minutes suffice.

2) the level of focus I reach is unusually high, especially for technical subjects.

A final remark is that I realized that you can do a lot of things by spending only 20 minutes every single day. A lot of things indeed.

The two most important things I get from these techniques is "tricking" myself into starting unappealing work by considering that "it's only 30 minutes" and regular break reminders.

(disclaimer: I wrote the app)