Friday, August 10, 2012

Use Pomodoro Technique For A Focused And Fresh Mind

By Shari Swanson


The use of pomodoro technique has gained popularity since it was developed in the 1980's. Pomodoro is an Italian word meaning tomato. It is a time management skill that provides workers with maximum focus and creative freshness to complete tasks faster and with less mental fatigue.

The skill is simple as long as one follows the fundamental stages. These stages include visualizing, planning, recording, processing and tracking. In the planning stage, one should have a to-list in order to list all the tasks. This enables workers to determine how much effort the task requires.

This skill requires one to budget the time for every task into short intervals of 25 minutes. After every work period one is then entitled to a 5 minute break. Each 25 minute work period is known as pomodoro. After four pomodoros of work time, one can take a break of about 15 to 30 minutes.

You are advised to mark the progress using an X after completing each task. Note the time you take to switch to another project plus procrastination time. If there is an interruption during the task, other activities are affected automatically. You may thus choose to abandon or postpone that task.

This skill reduces the impact of external and internal interruptions on focus and flow. Taking a low technical approach is better using a pen, paper and mechanical timer. It is believed that when the user winds up the timer, it signifies his determination to complete the task and the ticking of the timer motivates the user to complete the work in time.

The use of pomodoro technique has been proven to be effective when used in studies or work. It enables a worker to complete projects more quickly as he is forced to follow strict timing and reduce procrastination time. This great skill enables the worker to finish all the projects on the list and still have a focused and fresh mind.




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