Pomodoro

Everyone has said to himself at least once - oh, I wish I had a little more time - I would be able to do so much more. And for many of us time is never enough. There is always something else we want or we have to do.

24 Hours

The good news is that each of us has 24 hours a day, regardless of our profession, social status or bank account. But why do we achieve different results? The reason is that everyone uses his time differently. And if we learn how to use our time better, we could easily improve our results.

There are various techniques out there, but one of the best, and probably the easiest, is to take a break more often. That's true, you read it right. One of the easiest ways to achieve more is by having a rest.

Break Time

More than a century ago, engineer Frederick Taylor proved the importance of the break time. He spent three years in the largest steel company and did some interesting research.

The young engineer estimated that each worker transported 12 tons of cast iron every day, but at noon everyone was already tired. Taylor also found that everyone could carry 47 tons a day without getting tired. The others laughed at his ideas, but still gave him a chance to prove his theory.

One person was assigned directly to the brave engineer and soon they had the first results. It turned out that a worker could actually transport 47 tons of cast iron in one day. The more interesting conclusion was the fact that he rested more than 50% of the time. How was it then possible to do so much more?

The answer is very simple - the reason was the rest. When workers rested more often, they had more energy for doing their job. And they managed to do four times more physical work.*

The secret of success in Taylor's experiment actually lays in choosing the right time to rest. But how do you chose this moment?

25 Minutes

A very simple technique we can use for this purpose is pomodoro. It is based on the idea of ​​dividing the time into blocks of 25 minutes, with a short break of 5 minutes between each block. Every 4 pomodoros it is good we take a longer break of about 20 minutes. In this way we can refresh and recharge our bodies and minds with even more energy that we will definitely need.

Some of us will probably say that their job is quite specific or they are super busy and this will not work for them. I used to think the same. But the results I achieved in the first week were so impressive, that since then I try to use pomodoro in everything I do.

You can find many apps that will help you in applying this technique. Some of them allow us to determine our own pomodoro and break time, and thus be even more flexible.

But whatever we decide to do, we can achieve much more if we stop for a few minutes and give a short break to our minds and bodies. Try it and see the results for yourself.

* The case described is part of Frederick Taylor's book “The Principles of Scientific Management”. Many experts believe that the ideas in the book lead to an increase in labor productivity worldwide almost 100 times.