Red tomato-shaped kitchen timer with cooking in the background. To let you know when to turn off the stove and food is ready. Brazilian cuisine. Kitchen concept. Household appliance concept. Picture: iStock
Setting time limits to complete specific tasks could help with productivity. This is the idea behind the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method invented by an Italian student in the 1980s that can help you organise and manage your time. Here’s how it works.
Finding it hard to get down to work? What if you tried using a time management method called the Pomodoro Technique? This method, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 1980s, consists of dividing your time into 25-minute chunks and keeping track of them using a kitchen timer.
The goal is to concentrate fully on a single task for 25 minutes.
According to the method’s founder, dividing your time allows you to focus on one specific task to accomplish rather than on a whole, bigger project or goal.
Moreover, thanks to the timer, there’s no need to be constantly checking the time, thus losing focus.
In fact, it’s from the timer that this technique takes its name. In Italian, “pomodoro” means “tomato,” and refers to the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Francesco Cirillo used as a student.
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This technique has five steps. First of all, choose the task to be achieved and define the time for its realisation, ideally between 20 and 30 minutes.
Then start the stopwatch, if possible, using a timer other than a cell phone. Next, work on the defined task during the allotted time.
At the end of the session, take a five-minute break. However, don’t take advantage of this time to scroll through social networks or check your emails. Ideally, you should step outside quickly to get a real break from your work sessions. Finally, set yourself a new task and start the cycle again.
It is important that, for every four “pomodori” time chunks completed, you take a slightly longer break, of between 10 and 15 minutes.
This method can also be used by college students, high school students or children when doing their homework.
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