Who would ever think that a frustrated Italian university student – who was having difficulties in managing his heaps of homework and time for study, that could develop a simple timeboxing technique in which originated from a kitchen timer that resembles the appearance of a tomato.

Therefore, that’s the reason why it is called the Pomodoro Technique in which the word “pomodoro” means “tomato” in Italian. It was firstly discovered by Francesco Cirillo in the 80’s for the means of improving personal time management by eliminating distraction and increase productivity.

It was developed when Francesco wanted to maximize the use of his time (perhaps 10 minutes) on his revision since he had several upcoming exams. It didn’t work that well as he expected in the beginning, but he enduringly putting his time and efforts of improving his timeboxing idea in which is comprehensively discussed in present team productivity workshops.

Personally speaking, what would you do in the first 10 minutes when you wanted to complete a task?

You would be doing this before you start your work:

Checking your mail inbox
• Checking your profile at Facebook
• Chat online with your friends
• Reading or commenting on other people’s blog posts
• And there are so much more to do except work.

Francesco noticed this problem – lack of focus on work, during his campus days.

The Italian Pomodoro Technique for Personal Improvement – The Basics

Watch this short clip that shows the overview of the Pomodoro Technique.

Here are the lists of tools that are needed for Pomodoro Technique:

• Kitchen timer – you can use all sorts of timer not necessarily pomodoro-looking timer.
• Pencil
• Daily task sheet list a.k.a. To Do Today Sheet – view sample
• Activity Inventory Sheet – view sample
• Records Sheet – view sample

The Pomodoro Technique enables you to concentrate on completing tasks by assorting each of these tasks into small timeframes – each small timeframe represents one pomodoro.

1. Allocate 30 minutes for each pomodoro in which you dedicate your efforts to complete work within given fixed amount of time.
2. Remember to write each and every pomodoro for every task on a daily task list or “To Do Today Sheet” – as it is commonly addressed by the founder.
3. When the thirty minutes has passed, stop your work immediately and start to take a short five-minute break.
4. If the task requires lots of pomodoros, start taking a long 25 minutes break after the fourth pomodoro before proceeding to the fifth pomodoro.
5. Evaluate your daily tasks with total number of pomodoros used in every task and develop possible improvement steps like “How do I reduce number of pomodoros in writing a report?” or “Can I use the same number of pomodoros in other tasks in order to get the same results?”

Still couldn’t get all the steps correctly?

Download The Pomodoro Technique here and read chapter 2 – Materials and Method.

Why should we use Pomodoro Technique for our Daily Task?

This is to ensure that you will be able to focus on your work within each small timeframe and promotes less anxiety on your work because you will be able to take a short break between intervals.

This technique incites the continuity of work among individuals. Slicing your long duration task into several pomodoros is like chopping a big sausage into little small chunks of sausages and you eat of them in a hot dog eating competition. It is much easier to finish all tiny sausages than the larger one, or it’s tempted to several small tiny chunks of sausages than one hard-to-chew large sausage.

Consequently, a difficult task takes up more pomodoro than a simple task. Thus, it will be less stressful to accomplish a difficult task as you can make use of these short breaks for personal activities like taking a walk, having a tea, coffee or toilet break, talking to the phone; that can gain more energy for your work within a long period of time.

Based on Francesco, there is one thing you should take note about using Pomodoro Technique is that this timeboxing technique is only meant for goal oriented tasks. Do not use this particular technique when you are spending your leisure time on hobbies like reading, jogging, cycling and so much more activities during free time.

Update – 12/9/2009: Here’s the easiest way of learning Pomodoro Technique by Noteberg Staffan: Pomodoro Technique Illustrated: Can You Focus – Really Focus – for 25 Minutes?

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