What Emile said, although I do have to make sure I don’t cheat! (Also, the M&Ms are in a desk drawer where I can’t see them) Before I tried this, every time I goofed off during a pomodoro, the mild buzz of surfing the internet served as a reward. Now, I tell myself, “don’t goof off, or no M&M for you!”
There’s a second reward as well, which may not apply to everyone equally. I work full-time, basically in legal research. I used to spread 10 pomodoros out over the day (okay, 8). Now I do 10 as fast as possible, and then switch to personal research. This makes the day much more pleasurable. The M&Ms reinforce this faster-moving, more engaging schedule.
That’s very interesting indeed.
I get one reward per pomodoro, unless I chain the pomodoros together, in which case the reward matches the number of pomodoros completed (so if I do three in a row, 75 minutes of work, then I get 3 M&Ms). If I want to take a break, then I accept that I’ll only get 1 M&M, instead of 2 or 3, after the next pomodoro.
In practice, then, I’m using variable intervals. Based on your feedback, I’ll experiment with eating all the rewards at the end of the time interval, instead of devouring them after each pom.