
Exactly at the moment when Time appeared to be such a vicious predator to me I managed to stop in front of it, and still and afraid ask this simple question: "How can you, Time, be useful to me now?įor the first time I used time instead of running away from Time. There, on that table in September 1987, I hadn't noticed yet but for the first time I had managed to turn time into an ally. I didn't take too long to realize that, for a number of factors, the ideal unit of work was 25 minutes followed by a 2-5 minute break. I got to one hour, but that was too much. Surprised, I began to ask myself why it had worked? I gradually increased the amount of time when I set the timer. When the timer rang I had won my bet against Time. I wound it up to two minutes and started reading my book. The timer was red and shaped like a Pomodoro (tomato in English). I made a humble bet with myself: 'Can you stay focused for two minutes without distraction?' I went to the kitchen, grabbed a timer and came back to my table. I couldn't keep my mind focused on my book. "I was a student at the university in 1987 and I had to take the sociology exam in September. Why Pomodoro®?įrancesco Cirillo, the creator of the Pomodoro® Technique tells the "Pomodoro Story."

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The Pomodoro® Technique helps our brain recognise and observe those tricky moments and learn how to deal with them efficiently, which is so crucial in order to find functional answers and in the end to reach our goals. Procrastination and low productivity are the effect of the anxiety we feel when we don't know how to deal with the fact that we can't control time. And, as you may have experienced, these answers generate more frustration, weariness and a sense of guilt. The answers our frightened mind finds are dysfunctional: “run faster”, “work harder”, ”find a shortcut” "do something else".

When our mind realizes that it cannot control time, we get scared and time appears to us as a vicious predator. We can't have as much as we want, neither stop it nor slow it down. This deceptively simple tool transforms both work and home life and make us far more productive. The Pomodoro® Technique is a training programme to learn how to deal with these occurrences in a productive way in order to reach our own objectives. These kinds of occurrences are common when it comes to reaching goals under the pressure of time. We know we should focus on the task in hand, but it feels impossible with so many distractions and demands on our time. You are not alone! We all face the same problem.
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Twitter Mastering Software Design and Development.Twitter Linkedin Twitter Linkedin YouTube Cirillo.Complete Pomodoro® Time Management Course.Mastering Software Design and Development.This is not bound to happen with the TimeStick, which lies flat on the fridge, and has a magnet that holds firm even through a few layers of paper. In fact, one of them did fall off the fridge as I fiddled with the buttons, and the clip promptly snapped off. I can imagine rushing to hit "stop" and launching one across the kitchen in the process. As a result, those timers didn't lie flush with the fridge, and wobbled when I pushed a button to the left or right of center. The problem with them was that most of their magnets were attached to the back of the clip, which itself jutted out from the back of the timer. All but one of the remaining timers came with a clip (to attach to your clothes), a magnet, and a fold-out stand to set the timer upright on the table. Two other timers I tested also came with a lanyard and magnets on the back, but both of those were single timers, and only went up to 10 hours. The TimeStick is designed to be worn on a lanyard around your neck, but it's also small enough to fit in a pocket, and it has a nice strong magnet on the back so you can stick it on the fridge or oven.
