Sometimes, you want to be alone, but your coworkers, pets, or kids won’t go away. Goodbye, productivity. Thankfully, there are plenty of techniques you can use to carve out a little bubble of comfort for yourself when you’re trying to burn through all the items on your to-do list.

Every few months, I try some version of the Pomodoro Technique, the famous productivity system where you take a 5-minute break every half hour, and a half-hour break every two and a half hours. I follow it closely, then I follow it loosely, then I give up. If this has happened to you, you might need to follow this simpler version.

The Pomodoro Technique for productivity sounds cool, but you might fall into the same trap I do: you read about setting timers to get work done, and then you research the best Pomodoro timer, and then you go shopping for a physical timer, and then you try out some browser extensions, and...you’ve wasted an hour. But not this time. This time you’ll read this blog post, you’ll click the link, and you’ll immediately get to work.

We all know that spending the entire day staring at a computer screen is bad news for our eyes, but how many of us actually do something with that knowledge?

If you’re looking for ways to be a bit more productive, the Pomodoro technique can be a good place to start. The technique, which was developed in the early 90s by developer Francesco Cirillo, involves breaking down large tasks into short, timed intervals. Cirillo called those intervals Pomodoros, in part because he timed them out using a kitchen timer that looked like a tomato.

Mac: We've seen plenty of Pomodoro timers over the years, but Tomates might be the most full featured option around.

It's the start of the work year (January doesn't really count) and you promised yourself that you'd be more productive. But you quickly find yourself getting distracted by Facebook and cat videos on YouTube.

It's okay, we've all fallen into this trap. But it IS possible to change the way you tackle work, and it takes less than 30 minutes. It's time to introduce your brain to the Pomodoro Technique.

Mac: There are plenty of Pomodoro timers to choose from but I like apps that disappear when you don't need them -- and are a single click away when you do. With that in mind, Pomodoro Time lets you time your tasks and manage your to-do list right in your menu bar.

Pomodoro. Kanban boards. Time tracking. Scheduling. If you're into productivity and a fan of Lifehacker, you know these concepts and how they can help you get stuff done. TimeStats brings them all in one place to make the ultimate productivity app.

Many people swear by the Pomodoro Technique, a strategy for sprinting through tasks to get more done, while allowing for brain-resting breaks. You don't need a Pomodoro timer to apply this -- just use regular, limited-time "real life" events for your timer.