Respect the Tomato!

Or … a fun and efficient way to work

My friends over at Asian Efficiency (who gave me this shirt!) would be happy to hear how thrilled and blessed I have been to discover the Pomodoro Technique.

Alright, alright. You’re probably a little lost right now. This technique named after a tomato - the mind doesn’t boggle that much - is a fabulously helpful way to run your work days.

Struggling with procrastination, lack of focus? Maybe this technique will help you. Honestly. Try it!

With a stack of projects on my plate and listed in my task manager, I set about firing up “the tomato” and worked through my day taking breaks after just 25 minutes of focussed work on one task. Every time the tomato told me to (when the wee alarm went off), I would walk away from my computer and have a tea for five minutes or read in a comfy chair outside or … one day … do a five minute cleaning job in the lavatory.

At the end of the day, as I respected that tomato’s instructions on focussed work time and break times, I realised I had done some outstanding work with clear focus and thinking and … I had also thoroughly cleaned the loo from top to bottom!

Yes. Give it a shot and see what you find. But don’t forget! Respect that tomato!