There’s a moment in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace when the lightsaber fight comes to a sudden stop.
An energy barrier separates Darth Maul from Qui-Gon Jinn.
Darth Maul paces back and forth, waiting for the fight to resume. Qui-Gon kneels quietly, almost as though he’s meditating.
They’re both waiting for the barriers to open, but they’re spending that time very differently.
I think about that scene when using the Pomodoro technique.
One familiar Pomodoro rhythm is 25 minutes of work followed by a five-minute break.
But what do you actually do during those five minutes?
You can spend them rushing around, checking things, thinking about your next task, and never really stopping. Or you can use them to become still for a moment.
The barrier has already stopped the fight. But that doesn’t mean you’ve stopped fighting.
Of course, moving around can be a perfectly good break too. The question is whether you’re giving yourself a pause or just finding another way to stay busy.
So when your five-minute break arrives, ask yourself:
Are you going to spend it like a Jedi or a Sith?