Manage Your Time With a Tomato
by Robert T. Boyer, Ph.D. on Dec.17, 2010, under General
Did you know that a simple kitchen timer could be the key to keeping you on-task and making the most of your time? It’s true. Named for a tomato-shaped kitchen timer, the “Pomodoro Technique” (pomodoro is Italian for tomato) can help you fight off workday distractions that otherwise pry you from your agenda and priorities.
Francesco Cirillo, an Italian software developer, created the technique in 1992 when, as a student, he was frustrated with his inability to sit down and focus on his studies. Searching for a way to nix his procrastination and sharpen his study habits, he concluded that the “ticking clock” of deadlines is what triggers procrastination in many people, and that the key to beating it was to focus on your work, not your anxieties.
The technique is exceedingly simple:
Take a standard wind-up kitchen timer and set it for 25 minutes. For that 25 minutes, focus on nothing but the task at hand. Don’t take calls, answer emails or tend to any other business. Focus on only that task. When the timer rings, set it for five minutes and take a very short break.
Those 30 minutes represent a “pomodoro.” When you have finished four pomodoros, take a longer, 30-minute break.
Cirillo arrived at the 25-minute/five-minute time block for two reasons. First, it is a reasonable amount of time in which to place interruptions on the back burner. Nearly anything — a call, an email, a request from a coworker — can wait 25 minutes. Second, the five-minute rest period conforms to most peoples’ need to take a quick mental break from the task on which they are concentrating.
There is one additional element to the pomodoro technique: a to-do list. Use your list to outline your work, and, as you accomplish each task, log how many pomodoros it took you to accomplish each one. This will help you track the time required by each task, which will help you improve your future performance for similar work.
Use the list to also note any attempted interruptions during each pomodoro. This will not only help you get back to people in a timely fashion, but also help you identify the times in your schedule when interruptions are at their worst.
Cirillo has written a 45-page guide outlining additional tips and strategies for using the pomodoro technique that can be downloaded for free at www.pomodorotechnique.com. Try it out and see if you can drastically improve your focus — 25 minutes at a time
[This report is sponsored by the Grandmaster Store for Martial Arts Equipment.]
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