“Getting things done” is, of late, a phrase alien to my work ethic. Rooting around for ways to help my concentrate I remember the ‘Pomodoro Technique‘ – a time-management method that is, supposedly, meant to help.

How?

The Pomodoro technique teaches you to break down your work into 25 minute chunks, with a 5 minute break taken between chunks. After every 4 ‘pomodoros’ you’re advised to take a longer break.

Like so: –

  1. Choose a task
  2. Set a timer for 25 minutes
  3. Work on that task until the timer goes off
  4. Take a 5 minute break
  5. Repeat.
  6. Every 4 Pomodoros take a longer break

Sounds great in theory but the hard part is keeping track of time. Enter Tomighty – a small tray-based timer tool designed specifically for use with Pomodoro technique.

Once launched it will countdown from 25 minutes…

During the last minute the icon will live-countdown until the time is up and a break should be taken:

It has a basic set of options including

  • Configurable times
  • Set break time period
  • Configurable sounds
  • Option to show time on tray
  • Basic themes

Dude, that’s just a timer.

Yeah, it is. But it’s a time designed solely for Pomodoro activities and works very well as such.

Tomight won’t win any style awards when used in Linux – it’s a java application – but it does what it intends to and for that one can’t complain too much.

Download @ tomighty.org

java pomodoro timer