The Pomodouro technique is a time-management strategy that breaks work into shorter intervals. "Setting a timer is a great idea because it can remind you to start or end your day, take breaks, and will motivate you to stay on task," explained Rashmi Parmar, MD, a psychiatrist with Community Psychiatry, California's largest outpatient mental health organisation.
"Individuals with ADHD have what is called 'time blindness,'" Lauren Powell, PsyD, a Georgia-based clinical psychologist, told POPSUGAR. "In time blindness, the ADHD individual can easily become distracted after a short period of time and lose track of the task at hand, resulting in a lack of productivity. On the opposite spectrum, the individual with ADHD can become hyperfocussed on an activity and not recognise that time is passing."
Dr. Powell suggests setting a timer to work for a specific period of time, like 25 minutes, then taking a three- to five-minute break. "The more 25-minute time periods you work for, the longer your break can be," Dr. Powell explained, adding that breaking time into predictable periods helps to identify the passage of time.
While you can use your phone's timer or a specific app for time-blocking, this can also lead to more distractions and procrastination. I prefer using a table time cube like the Calidaka Cube Timer ($12). The block has time settings for five, 15, 30, and 60 minutes and is activated simply by flipping one of the time intervals face-up.