Developed in the 1980s by an Italian, this technique increases productivity and time management skills
Do you feel that your professional or academic life is not yielding enough? Sometimes, we get into dangerous vicious cycles, where our productivity drops and all the work piles up without ever reaching the end. This seems to start with an intrinsic difficulty in carrying tasks to the end.
The problem seems to have no solution, however, in the 1980s the Italian Francesco Cirillo decided to develop a technique that would help him produce more at the beginning of his academic life.
He started by doing the following: he started using a tomato-shaped timer (pomodoro, in Italian) to try to organize his time. In 1992, he gathered the results of his years of testing and presented it to the world, launching what would become the “Pomodoro Technique”.
The pomodoro technique is very simple: if you can focus 100% on something for a limited period of time, you will be able to produce as much as possible. By dividing our time flow, we increase our agility and stimulate our brain, that is, it makes us more efficient. You will need:
- Timer or stopwatch to count down;
- A to-do list;
- Pencil and eraser.
To start, make a list of daily tasks and divide them into blocks of 25 minutes each. Now, just grab your stopwatch and dedicate yourself 100% to each task within that period of time. Every time the timer goes off and the 25 minutes are up, take five minutes to relax a little and clear your mind. After every four cycles like this, take a longer break of 30 minutes.
The main objective of the Pomodoro technique is to increase productivity, and to achieve this, it tries to reduce anxiety by increasing concentration. With it, we are able to organize ourselves better, in addition to being able to monitor the results that are being recorded. After a few days of using the technique, you will be able to notice:
- understand how long it takes to perform each type of task;
- understand what distracts you repeatedly;
- find out what the main interruptions in your work are.
The technique works for the most diverse tasks: academic, professional, domestic, among others.
How is your time?
Do you know your work rhythm and how much time you spend on it? It's important to know this, so you can make the most of it. To reach a conclusion, answer the following questions:
- Do you study and work until you are tired or do you take breaks frequently?
- Before starting, do you make a list of the tasks to be performed or do you try to remember them in your head?
- Do you know what the main causes of interruptions in your work are?
- Estimate the time you will spend on a certain activity and then check whether it was efficient?
- Do you work well in the race against the clock?
To avoid interruptions, it's worth turning off your cell phone or the internet sometimes, as well as avoiding side conversations or any other type of distraction that will make it difficult for you to concentrate.
Source: In practice
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