Conquer time. Every parent, working or staying at home, knows time goes too quickly when you are juggling kids and a million other things. Thanks to the mastermind of Francesco Cirillo, he developed the Pomodoro Technique. During his university studies, Francesco found himself in a slump and needed a way to focus. His solution came in the form of a tomato timer from the kitchen, pomodoro meaning tomato in Italian. This pomodoro was his time tutor. Then came the technique.
The technique is pretty simple. At the beginning of each day, go through your task list and organize according to priority. Then set your pomodoro, a timer, to 25 minutes. Work on the task for 25 minutes then take a 5 minute break. That is the gist of it. This technique allows you to stay focus on the task you are working on, keep track of interruptions and calculate exactly how long it takes you to get something done. Simple. To the point. And that is how we like it around here. The short 45-page book goes into more detail while giving tips on how to eliminate interruptions, simplify tasks and so much more.
The Free Book
Available to everyone, a free PDF version of Francesco’s book, Pomodoro Technique, is available to download. Read and apply. Click on link to download.
The Giveaway
*This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for all the entries! Find out who won here.
The Pomodoro Team is offering THREE readers their soon to be released Pomodoro Kit. Yes, you’ll be one of the firsts to get it! The kit consists of the official Pomodoro 25-minute timer, Pomodoro t-shirt, pencil, and to do today pad.
To enter, do any of the following. For multiple entries, do more than one and make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry.
- Leave a comment below and tell me what is your biggest time waster.
- Go to Pomodoro Technique, look around, then tell me what you like about it in separate comment.
- Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to the post in your comment below.
- ‘Share’ this giveaway by doing one of the ‘Share’ options below (Twitter, Facebook, Kirtsy, StumbleUpon, or Email).
Good luck to everyone and the entries will close on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26 at 10 p.m. EST. The winner will be announce on Friday, Nov. 27. I know it will be Black Friday and all of you will be out shopping.
The Pomodoro timer is what I love about the Pomodoro technique! It’s not just that the cheery red tomato timer is fun. It’s that my brain NEEDS something external to help me focus. The tick tick tick and the ending ring and then the re-setting of the timer for a new Pomodoro all are cues to help me stay on track. It’s simple and fun and just what I need. Thank you!
Biggest time waster: phone calls
Biggest time waster for me is Computer time for sure. I get sucked in.
I love the versatility of the Pomodora technique. That it can apply to anyone. I also like that it allows, or rather takes into account, interruptions because we all experience those…which usually sidetrack us. Very cool and helpful technique. I am excited to try it!
Email. Not so much purely from a time perspective, but from an interruption perspective. Easy to veer off for a few minutes and read an email and halting any momentum on a task you may have had.
Pomodoro really helps to eliminate that!
Facebook, twitter, and TV really waste a lot of my time.
I like how the technique allows for a break so that you don’t burn out, and especially allows for a longer break if you do 4 pomodoros in a row. 25 minutes isn’t too long, nor is it too short of a period to get something accomplished.