time management

8 Best Youtube Pomodoro Timers in 2023 for You

Seriously – how do they do it?

How can some people work and study all day long getting things done and also have the time to go out, meet friends and family.

You know the people we talk about the ones that are:

Always on time with their projects.
Achieve incredible things.
Volunteer
Learn a language “on the site”
Have time to learn “coding”.
Work out regularly.
AND still have the time to go to coffee shops, trips, and Sunday lunch with their grandparents.

Maybe you are wondering: Why can’t I do that?

After living with one of those high achievers I’ve realized it’s cause they use systems and schedules to work on their goals and plans. They prioritize what’s important to them. And they cut out all “unimportant” time eaters. One tool in their toolbox is the pomodoro technique. Learn about the 7 Things you should know about the Pomodoro Technique and get the free pomodoro tracker printable!

Also check the 6 best Free Offline and Online Pomodoro Trackers that will Boost your Productivity

Today we’ll take a look at the best Youtube Pomodoro Trackers and Study with Me’s that we use as in the background while pursuing and working on our goals. Whether you only have an hour or want to work the whole day, with or without music, long or short focus time, there will be a perfect timer for you.

Zach Highly’s 7 Hour Study with Me

Duration: 5h // With Music 🎵 // Timer: 25/5 // Winter Aesthetics

Zach Highly, a medical student, first caught my attention with his video “how I study 70+ hours a week without burning out”. His high-quality Pomodoro Videos are pretty long. Exactly what you need when you plan a whole day of working. He usually uses Lofi Beats, which I personally find too noisy while working, but the video above only has quiet study music. Check out his channel for long-form pomodoro sessions!

The Sherry Formula Pomodoro Trackers

Duration: 3h // With Music 🎵 // Timer: 30/5 // Cottage Aesthetics

The Sherry Formula has so many great Study with Me’s with Pomodoro Trackers. It was hard to pick one. She is our absolute favorite when it comes to Pomodoro Timers. Her videos are cozy and warm. She has some videos with and without music usually between 1 and 3 hours.

The Hanoi Chamomile Pomodoro Timers

Duration: 1h // Rain Sounds// Timer: 25/5

The Hanoi Chamomile has really short 1 hour or even 25 Minute sessions for when you are short on time. They come with classical music or nature sounds.

ASMR Weekly Harry Potter Pomodoro Timers

Duration: 2h // No Music // Timer: 25/5

Want to study like Harry Potter? Try the Hogwarts themed Pomodoros!

Inner Academia a Dark Academia Pomodoro Timer

Duration: 2h // No Music // Timer: 25/5

Want a cozy rainy study day? Try this dark academia Pomodoro. Get your hot cacao ready and get started.

Study Pomodoro

Study Pomodoro offers a variety of work and break times. Depending on how focused I am I can use longer or shorter pomodoro timers.

Study Music Project Pomodoro Trackers

Duration: 2h // Piano Music // Timer: 25/5

This one has really calm piano music in the background. The perfect timer for stressful days.

Motivate Medic Pomodoro Trackers

This one is a great find. Want to study in London? Motivate Medic has amazing Pomodoro Study With Me’s with an amazing few of London.

That`s it! Hope you found the right Pomodoro Timer to cross off your tasks!
For our Best 10 INSPIRATIONAL YOUTUBERS check this post. Or learn about our favorite self-improvement apps in 2023 here.

How long do you invest every day/week to hit your goals? Let us know in the comments and as always, stay productive 🙂

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7 Things you should know about the Pomodoro Technique [Free Printable]

Project Girl 2 Woman

By now I am pretty sure you’ve heard about the Pomodoro technique. I guess it is one of the most well-known time management tools out there. But, have you actually tried it before, or do you think it’s utter bulls and not worth your time?

Let me convince you to give it a try anyways…

Still not working for you by the end of this post? Try one of the other time management techniques mentioned below.

In a moment we’ll dive into how the Pomodoro technique works. But first, let’s take a look at how it came to be:

1. Who invented the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro technique is one of the most famous time management tools invented by the Italian Francesco Cirillo. Cirillo invented the Pomodoro technique as a student to work more efficiently. I guess he didn’t struggle with all-nighters before exams…

Currently, he has a consulting firm in Berlin called Cirillo Consulting. You can read more about his original idea in the book “The Pomodoro Technique”

2. Why is it called the Pomodoro Technique?

Do you remember the tomato-shaped kitchen timers? I think every household in Germany had a kitchen timer (before smartphones came) often in the shape of a tomato. Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato. Cirillo originally used a kitchen timer to take track of his 25/5.

At that time we had an onion-shaped one…

3. What are the 5 steps in the Pomodoro Technique?

Now that we know how it came to be, let’s take a look at how it works:

Step 1. Chose and formulate the task you want to accomplish.

Create a to-do list for the day. Prioritize your tasks and start with the most impactful ones. This free Pomodoro Printable sheet can help you plan your session:

Step 2. Set the timer for 25 minutes.

In the original Pomodoro Method, a set consisted of 25 minutes of hyperfocus work and a 3 to 5-minute break. IF your 25 minutes get interrupted that Pomodoro is void and you need to start again. Once the timer is over you MUST take the break. Nowadays there are many different variations like 50/10 45/15 or 60/25. What is your experience with the Pomodoro Method? What works best for you?

Step 3. Work on the task.

Next, you work on the task without any interruptions. The interruptions can be internal or external. Observe your interruptions and minimize them.

Step 4. Take a short break.

How long should a Pomodoro break be? The original method called for a short break after 25 minutes of 5 minutes. After 4 pomodoros take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

Step 5. Repeat Steps 2-4 until you’ve accomplished your tasks.

4. Why is a Pomodoro 25 minutes long?

It’s short enough to not trigger procrastination. (Read more Anti-Procrastination hacks here and here)
25 Minutes are long enough to focus.
A set of 2 promodors is exactly 1 hour long so it’s a great measurement tool. ( I finished a task in X promodoros, next time I’ll need X promodoros)
It creates a sense of urgency.
5-minute breaks aren’t long enough to get distracted.
You can adapt the time to your personal needs.

5. What do you do in a 5-minute Pomodoro break?

It’s important that you don’t do anything brain taxing and that you do something that actually lets you rest. Here are our best recommendations for you:

In the short breaks:

Walk around.
Drink a cup of water.
Do some stretches.
Quick clean your home.
Jumping Jacks.
Do eye exercises.
Breathing exercises.
Get some fresh air on your balcony or ventilate the room.

During the long breaks:

Meditate
Do yoga
Snack on sth healthy.
Take a walk.
Listen to music.
Draw.

6. Is the Pomodoro method effective for working and studying? Let’s see what Redditor’s have to say:

We found both pros and cons for the method. Here are some recommendations how to personalize the technique:

7. Tips on how to use the Pomodoro Technique:

To sum it up the Pomodoro Technique is a simple Time Management tool to increase your productivity. Timewise it can also be adapted to your personal needs. It probably won’t work for all tasks, but it’s great when you need to start on a daunting task. Check out our post on: 6 Best Offline and Online Pomodoro Trackers to get started 🙂 Or use the 8 Best YouTube Pomodoro Timers instead!

What to do if the Pomodoro Technique doesn’t work for you? Let’s take a look at what other techniques like Pomodoro exist?

You can use the Flowtime Technique
Another Method is Timeboxing.
The Action Priority Matrix.
The GTD Method

You can also start with our 7 Steps to Create a New Habit a Masterpost! 🙂

3 skills of successful entrepreneurs and how YOU can train them

Project Girl 2 Woman

Do YOU want to be successful ? Do you want to do fascinating speeches like Steve Jobs or motivating hundreds of thousands of people like Tony Robbins? Then stay for another minute and keep reading. Because today’s post will be all about the Skills successful people have and how you can get them too!

Have you ever read one of those “ poor to rich” Books or listened to a “how to be successful” podcast? Then you will know how important it is that you train your mind and learn the following skills:

Communication
Problem solving
Time management

Of course there are more skills like leadership, efficiency and determination, but they will be explained at a later point of time!

Interested in more tipps? Then check out other posts we created just for you!

[Read: 5 Strategies to Become really Self-Disciplined]

[Read: Challenge Your FEARS – a 2021 approach]

More here:

Communication:

Communication is one of the most important Skills that exist. Whether you want to build a stable relationship, create a booming career or build an incredible business: You will have a hard time if you have poor communication skills. Elon Musk, an incredible speaker, shares the idea of transferring complex information in an easy and understandable way. This way not only experts are moved by his fascinating ideas and products but we all. Steve Job also showed us that we can convince and entice people by putting our passion into words. By inducing emotions within our audiences and connecting those positive emotions to our speech and to our products.

But communication goes far beyond presenting and speaking. Oprah Winfrey caught the interest and empathy of her viewers through her amazing listening skill and her way of interacting with the audience, understanding their struggles and motivations. Listening can also be in the form of seeing how a person or group reacts, be it in words or body language.

So both speaking and listening skills are a major asset. But how can I improve my communication skills?

The first point is to be honest with yourself – do you take the time to listen? In a world filled with noise and people striving for attention, it is sometimes easier to shout than to actually listen. But like mentioned in the previous section, listening is an important part of communication. It can help you understand your audience, their needs, hopes and challenges. It can help you solve problems with people in your office or family members. It helps you see the world in a different light.

Stories that might inspire you. Traditions that might change you and beliefs that might set you free from your previous life. Asking people what they want from your product rather than creating something you want! The good point is that in a noisy world everyone offers you a good story. All you need to do is open up and listen. (Short notice: There is also a lot of negativity out there so if something pulls you down – move on).

The second part is speaking. Having a terrible fear of speaking myself I know how hard it might seem. But believe me, it will get better! Shaking knees and sweaty palms? It is all about practicing and getting more confident in the speaking category. Practice. Practice. Practice. Don’t avoid speaking and instead see every occasion as an opportunity to improve your communication skill. There are speaking classes and communication tipps all over the internet. Or maybe you could join a local acting class/club?

A quick and easy starter solution if you feel very anxious and insecure to speak: practice in front of a mirror. No matter if having a job interview, the introduction to your parents-in-law or maybe just small talk with your new neighbor: Practicing in front of a mirror not only shows you how you present yourself, but you also learn to talk more freely and be more confident in your occurrence (Alternatively you can also practice in front of a camera and review the material later!) .

More tips to upgrade your communication skill:

Watch and reenact how great speakers talk
Check your body language
Cold call 100 people asking them questions
Prepare some topics in advance, know the person you talk with (check their social media)
Feel the discomfort and do it anyways
Risk making mistakes
Don’t brag
Avoid hot topics in the beginning
Talk structured
Join a speaking club like Toastmasters

Check out our communication post here!

Problem-solving

Elon Musk is also known for his amazing problem solving skills, but which successful person isn’t? Now problems can vary a lot – from raising your children to creating your dream product: Everything can happen. But it is how you act once a problem occurs, that differentiates you from others. BusinessTown.com states following attitudes are important for problem solving:

Critical Thinking
Creativity
Initiative
Persistence
Flexibility
Self Discipline

Every single second something unexpected can influence your progress. May it be a new invention changing your production material or just getting an over excited customer. .We constantly need to be on alert and we need to adapt fast. We need to be open to new techniques and material or creative enough to find a unique way to level up. But most important we have to be confident in what we do and sometimes be ready to take the risk.

Do you think that Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler stopped when they faced hardships? Do you think they just threw in the towel? Moved away from their incredible idea of their first car just because they were at a loss at some point? Even though I do not know how the progress of those two great men went by, I can only assume that they had marvelous problem-solving skills. Otherwise we might not be able to chug around with the fancy cars we have right now.

So how can you improve your problem-solving skills?

According to the Center for Management & Organization Effectiveness, there are 6 steps to solve a problem:

Step 1: Defining the problem

Step 2: Brainstorming

Step 3: Analyzing

Step 4: Managing Risk

Step 5: Deciding

Step 6: Managing Emotions

You can read the full entry here:

Following this order helps you analyze a problem and figure out the best option to go by. Alternatively, if you struggle with one step: eg: you are really indecisive or just very insecure about choosing the right path: you can concentrate on this area and build a strong foundation to avoid decision fatigue in the future. Alternatively, you can also practice by reading case studies or finding logical/problem-solving exercises online.

Time management:

Another very interesting but yet predictable skill is time management. I assume everyone has a moment in life where there is a ton to do but just not enough time to finish all. (Procrastinators raise your hands XD) The more important it is to have a good time management skill and achieve the highest possible outcome in the time given. Hey, yes you procrastinator! I see you grin because you know exactly what you do wrong! But this is not only for people pushing their tasks to the last minute before the deadline. A good time management skill helps you finish tasks more organized and quicker, shows you exactly when your next deadlines are and helps you to not forget anything in the meantime.

Kate Dagher of the Fellow Blog describes simple ways to improve your time management skill (Check out the full post here)

Set Smart Goals
Set weekly priorities
Delegate Tasks
Take breaks
Avoid Multitasking

Personally I would recommend you to use Google calendar as it is easier to add repeating events (for making new habits or when having regular classes etc).It is also better organized as you can enter different sections in different colors. (Sometimes I also just scribble some todos on a white paper and that’s it!) At the moment I am trying different time-management strategies and I am most fond of just planning my week on sundays. (I currently do not have deadlines which makes it easier for me in the planning category)

There is one more thing Kate Dagher mentioned which is the Pomodoro Technique. The Pomodoro Technique is very popular amongst students as it helps with being productive. You simply set a timer for 25 minutes and then have a 5 minute break afterwards. There are many “study with me”’s online that can help you stay concentrated and less lonely (plus they work great even if you work instead) Additionally if you prefer longer time periods, you can also find study streams on twitch which are usually between 50 and 100 minutes long. (My fav twitch streamer when it comes to being productive is i_jam_u)

If you liked today’s post then please leave a comment or feel free to add a topic we should cover for you!

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Love from Germany,

Carina and Julia

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