But when you're focused on one thing for a long period of time, you are able to get deeper into it. The more often you disengage from your work due to interruptions, the more time you spend re-engaging with what you actually want to be doing. When you write down that you'll work on that particular thing, you'll get into a flow state quicker. And it worked, for him and for millions of other Pomodoro practitioners. So he put a time limit on how long he planned to focus on a single task and rewarded himself with a break. While the idea seems rather simple, millions of people have used the Pomodoro Technique to boost productivity since the late 1980’s when Francesco Cirillo developed it.Francesco Cirillo, the creator of the Pomodoro Technique, had trouble staying focused while studying. There are also keyboard shortcuts available to initiate the pomodoro timer, a pause, or a break so that the process is completely seamless. When time is up, it sounds an alert with a tone and volume of the user’s choice plus a desktop notification. As the timer runs it shows the user the countdown on his or her Internet browser tab so that it is not even necessary be looking directly at the web page to know how much time is left. When four “pomodoros,” or 25-minute cycles, have been completed, there is a long break. It is designed so that a person completes 25 minutes of focused work on a task. Essentially, it is a timer set for 25-minute chunks with short (5-minute) and long (10-minute) breaks. Students can go to the “Tomato Timer” ( ) to try it out. When it comes to structuring homework time after school, one helpful technology tool can be the Pomodoro Technique.

Tomato timer desktop app