Time Wont Let Me

eEDITOR'S PAGE I ByTomPeric

Time Won't Let Me

When you do four pomodoros, you stop and take a 25- to 30-minute break. Again, it shouldn't relate to the business at hand but can include personal items like emailing your spouse or calling for a dentist appointment. You also maintain a list of activities that you fill out at the beginning of the day in order of importance, which is not surprising. The reason for the name is that the creator's first timepiece was a mechanical device, shaped and designed like a tomato. You can download for free the entire 35-page eBook at www.pomodorotechnique.com. I would suggest reading the entire "book" to learn the flner points of the technique. But you can apply it in one minute after simply reading this column and the cheat sheet Cirillo provides at the bottom of the download page for his eBook. You can also buy the book on amazon. (I write, so I love it when authors make money at http://tinyurl.com/cdt2r9a.) My personal observation about what makes the pomodoro so effective is that Cirillo understands that distractions and lack of focus are probably the great villains to time management and completing tasks. If you don't allow an interruption, you'll usually get something done in 25 minutes. Focus matters, too, especially when you don't WANT to work at the task. I also suspect the less you're interested, the more important the pomodoro becomes in completing a task. Why? Thinking of working on a report that you dread for two hours makes it Because my brain tends to wander (I am a writer, almost impossible to start. But working on it for only after all), I too have looked for that perfect time man- 25 minutes seem so much more palatable. agement tool. Haven't found it yet, either. But I have Cirillo is also shrewd about the timing issue. He discovered one that works better than anything else. knows that no matter how much of a work ethic we My "secret" is the pomodoro (www.pomodoro think we possess, the body clock becomes...