In work, as well as in life, doing what needs to be done in order to reach our goals can be difficult. Without a good system in place, it is easy to lose focus, waste time, and lose track of our most important tasks. Luckily, one of the most efficient and most popular time management techniques is also one of the world’s simplest—the Pomodoro Technique.
The Pomodoro Technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It uses a timer to break down your work into 25-minute blocksseparated by short breaks. Each block is known as a pomodoro, the Italian word for “tomato.”
timer [ ˈtaɪmɚ ] n. 計時器 block [ blɑk ] n. 區塊 separate [ ˈsɛpəˌret ] vt. 隔開，使分開
Cirillo named the system after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that he used to track his work time when he was studying as a university student. He developed a habit of doing short blocks of work followed by resting periods. He realized this method could help him work with time instead of struggling against it.
In 2006, Cirillo published his Pomodoro Technique manual for people to download free of charge. It was downloaded over two million times. At present, he owns a consulting firm whose services are for individuals, companies, and schools. The technique can be applied in almost all parts of our life.
番茄鐘工作法是 Francesco Cirillo 在大學時因為面臨考試所整理出的讀書方法。如今已廣泛運用在各個不同領域。如此簡易實用的方法，也廣受許多名人的喜愛。例如哈佛心理學碩士∕作家劉軒就認為這樣的方法對我們很有幫助。他提到一項研究告訴我們一心多用並不會更有效率，因為在同時處理好幾件事的過程中，我們其實不斷在切換注意力。這樣的轉換至少會動用到四個大腦部位，雖然所有過程都能在一瞬間完成（1/10 秒內），但這樣不斷來回切換卻有可能令我們損失高達四成的工作效率。行政院政務委員唐鳳也是番茄鐘工作法的忠實愛用者。舉例來說，她會先專心做某件事二十五分鐘，再用五分鐘來回覆電子郵件或查看手機，這樣才不易被干擾。她表示：「大家如果能設定這樣的邊界，從這樣精神衛生角度來看，就不會有腦海裡明明在想其他事情，卻被迫要處理這件事，結果兩邊都處理不好，也比較有放鬆的可能性。」看完這兩位名人的親身體驗，下回不妨將番茄鐘工作法運用於你的生活中喔！
