Tomato Time

Pomodoro is an Italian word for tomato. It is also a productivity technique. The person who invented it used a kitchen tomato timer to keep track of the work session thus the name of the technique being named pomodoros. 

I use an app called Forest, but there are many pomodoro timers out there. The basic principle of a pomodoro is to do sessions 25 minuets then 5 minuet break then 25 minuets again in sets of 3-4 then a longer break of an hour. Though I tend to do 30 minuets to 5 minuet break for 2-3 then a longer break.

This way the day is flowing rather then blocked out at specific times. I try to get a certain number of pomodoros in (one 25 or 30 minuet session = 1 pomodoro) in per day and keep track of the total number of pomdoros in the app but also in a physical planner.

Start the day with a map of what you need to do bumping anything overdue from yesterday over to today.  Plan tasks as well as over all goals and mark down pomodoros done as well. One productivity technique many use is to get the most difficult task out of the way first.

Morning vs Evening person. It is a good idea to reset yourself if your a night person to be a morning person. That way you don't run out of time during the day to accomplish what you want to do.

Weekly, Daily, Monthly, Quarterly and Annual reviews and projections. Much like time tracking knowing what you have done helps analyze progress. Without a map you won't know where you want to go or what the targets are and if you are on track. Start with a yearly projection, ask yourself what do you want done within reason in a year? Chop those into attainable targets in quarterly goals to make sure you are on track. Every Monday I do a weekly review and projection to evaluate how things are going and every Friday I make backups redundantly and offline. Monthly reviews of a total number of pomodoros done help track progress.

Set up those targets and knock them down. Organize and spend your tomatoes wisely.