The Productivity Tomato

What does a tomato have to do with productivity? And how can it help you and your child to stay focused on a task?

As soon as you have finished reading this post and you have liked and shared it, I want you to follow these instructions

Sit down, with the task you have to do and set a timer for 25 minutes. Work only on that task for the duration. Put your phone on silent, get distractions out of the way and close that social media.

When the 25 minutes is over, stop.

Take a break. Some guides suggest five minutes, I say 10. Personally, I find that gives me enough time to boil the kettle, have a look at emails, check social media etc. Bonus points if you can step away from the workspace.

Once your break is done, do another 25 minutes.

Repeat this three more times and then take a long break.

Pomodoro is Italian for Tomato, and this method was given the name by Francesco Cirillo who developed the system as a university student. Cirillo named the system “Pomodoro” after the tomato-shaped timer he used to track his work.

For younger children, you may find that 25 minutes is too long to keep their focus. Feel free to adjust the time to maybe 10 or 15 minutes then allow a break to step away from work for a short while.

Do you know any other productivity hacks? How do you stay focused on a task when its the last thing you want to do. Let me know in the comments below.