The 90/30 method is often said to be a great technique to improve your focus and increase your productivity, but is it as great as people say?
Let’s find out by taking a look at the pros and cons of the 90/30 method!
To begin, let’s quickly go over what the 90/30 method is.
The 90/30 method is an interval-based productivity technique where you work for 90 minutes and then take a 30-minute break.
Now, what are the pros and cons of the 90/30 method?
What Are The Pros And Cons Of The 90/30 Method?
Let’s start with the cons.
The 1st Con Of The 90/30 Method
The first con of the 90/30 method is that the 90/30 method will often cause you to overwork.
You see, if your work is difficult, complex, or stressful, then forcing yourself to work for 90 minutes as the 90/30 method demands will often result in you overworking because 90 minutes may often be too much.
And I’ve found this to be true for me, I personally find that working 90 minutes is sometimes too much, and that after just 10 minutes of work I’m going in circles, in which for me, the 90/30 method wouldn’t prevent overwork, but cause overwork.
Then there’s the fact that a 30-minute break will often not be enough, in which if you only ever take 30-minute breaks, you will slowly, but surely become overstressed, in which again, the 90/30 method would result in you overworking!
If your work is difficult, complex, or stressful, the 90/30 method will often cause you to overwork.
The 2nd Con Of The 90/30 Method
The second con of the 90/30 method is that the 90/30 method will often force you to take unnecessary breaks and waste your time.
And this is because if your work isn’t stressful, you can often work far longer than 90 minutes at a time without overworking or losing focus, in which if you were to take a break every 90 minutes…you’d be taking breaks you don’t need, in which you’d be wasting time.
And I have personally tried the 90/30 method and it often wasted my time. I found that when I worked on something that wasn’t stressful, then taking a break every 90 minutes was a complete waste of my time.
The 90/30 method will often force you to take unnecessary breaks and waste your time.
The 3rd Con Of The 90/30 Method
The third con of the 90/30 method is that the 90/30 method will often destroy your productive inertia.
The 90/30 method can make it easy to get started since all you have to do is work for 90 minutes…but because you have to take a break every 90 minutes…that also makes it easy to stop working.
If you take a break every 90 minutes, then every 90 minutes there is an easy opportunity to stop working, which can be a massive problem for those of us who aren’t yet highly disciplined.
Many people will eventually take one of those breaks and run away with it and waste hours at a time each day.
Now for the pros of the 90/30 method.
…there are none.
I know that’s a bit odd, but hear me out.
There Are No Pros To The 90/30 Method
Many people would say that the 90/30 method has the pro of helping them get started because having a timer helps them get started…but they’re not actually using the 90/30 method.
You see, I found that many people would use the 90/30 method to start their workday, but would very quickly begin ignoring the timer and instead would just go with the flow, in which they’re not really using the 90/30 method, in which it is not the 90/30 method that is helping them, but rather, it is the act of having a timer that is helping them.
…and there is a much better way to use a timer than the way you would use it with the 90/30 method.
If you find that you’re having trouble getting started, you’d be much better off using the 2-minute rule, where if you find yourself having trouble starting your work, you simply set a timer for 2 minutes and work for 2 minutes.
Now this is a much better technique because you almost always end up working far more than just 2 minutes and often more than 90 minutes, and it’s even easier to start working since it’s just 2 minutes rather than 90 minutes which can be daunting for many, especially if the work is difficult or unfulfilling, or if you have low discipline.
And with the 2-minute rule, unlike the 90/30 method, you don’t need to worry about the 90-minute timer getting in your way if you find that you’re in the flow, or the problem of being overstressed, but still needing to continue working so as to make it the 90-minute mark which the 90/30 method demands.
…the 90/30 method has no pros!
BUT, some people would argue that the 90/30 method has several pros because when using the 90/30 method you’re supposed to focus on a single task at a time, not allow distractions, and break large tasks down into smaller tasks…but those aren’t actually a part of the 90/30 method.
And to go even further, if you’re trying to maximize your productivity, the 90/30 truly has no pros because the very core of the 90/30 method simply doesn’t make sense.
The 90/30 Method Is Completely Useless
You see, if you’re trying to be as productive as possible, the 90/30 method has no pros, because when you should take a break should depend on the rate at which stress builds up, and this will depend on many factors, many of which will change throughout the day, in which when you should take a break should change throughout the day, in which you shouldn’t have a rigid work-break structure like the 90/30 method.
For example:
Throughout the day, the difficulty of your work may change, perhaps you’ll work on something easy in the morning, but then work on something difficult in the afternoon, in which you might not need to take any breaks at all in the morning, but then need to take a break every 30 minutes in the afternoon.
Or perhaps you hate what you’re working on this week, but you’re going to love what you’re working on next week, in which this week you may need to take a break every 30 minutes, while next week you may not need to take any breaks at all and will actually be more stressed when you’re not working than when you’re working.
When you should take a break should depend on the rate at which stress builds up, and the rate at which stress builds up will depends on many factors, such as how you feel about your work, how fulfilling your work is, how difficult your work is, your work environment, your stress sensitivity, and many more factors, many of which will change throughout the day, in which how long it takes for stress to build up will change throughout the day, in which when you should take a break should change throughout the day…
The 90/30 method has no pros because the 90/30 method doesn’t account for any of this.
With the 90/30 method, you work for 90 minutes and then take a 30-minute break regardless of whether or not you can work more, or if you’re overworked before the 90 minutes is up, or if you’re still stressed after the 30-minute break, or if a complete 30-minute break isn’t needed…
The 90/30 method has no pros because it doesn’t account for any of the variables that affect the rate at which stress builds up while working or the rate at which you relieve stress while taking a break, which would lead you to overworking, underworking, over-resting, and under-resting, all of which detriment your productivity.
Conclusion
The cons of the 90/30 method are that the 90/30 method will often cause you to overwork, take unnecessary breaks, and destroy your productive inertia, and the pros…don’t exist.