Procrastination really sucks especially if you have a lot of things to do. If you are one of these people, then this blog is probably helpful.
This week is quite tough for me as a student. We had a lot of activities in the past two weeks and I still have more than 6 activities next week.
I need to finish it all because it is really tough if we will have a lot of things to do on plates and we might end up cramming.
Despite finishing more or less 10 activities last week, I was still slow! Why? It is because of procrastination. When I am reading the PDFs sent by our professor, social media are seducing me and saying “Visit us” so I can’t finish the things that I need to do.
BUT thanks to the Pomodoro technique! I overcame the most annoying enemy of most people, procrastination.
What is Pomodoro Technique?
This technique was developed in the late 1980s by one student named Francesco Cirillo. He was having a hard time studying so he tried to divide his work and set up a time the Pomodoro technique was born.
Fun fact: Pomodoro is an Italian word that means tomato.
How does Pomodoro Technique work?
This technique is very simple to use, by simply doing this, you can be productive every day without procrastination.
- First, list all the tasks that you need to do. Even if it is for your whole day's task, the more the better. List all of the possible things including the small and big activities that you need to do. Examples are going to the grocery store, working out, cooking food, reviewing, reading your books, and more!
- Next, set up a 25-minute timer. This timer should ring when the time is done to inform and notify you.
- Working on your chosen task depends on your preference and what are the things that you need to do. The most important is to finish them all in your desired time.
- When the time is up and starts ringing, you deserve a reward! You can rest for 5 minutes. Remember, control yourself. Don’t abuse the time because it is gold!
- Repeat it from the top. 1. Set up a 25-minute timer, 2. work on your task, 3. then rest for 5 minutes.
Important Note: After doing 4 sessions of Pomodoro or after 4 times of 25 minutes of work, you can rest for a longer break from 15 to 30 minutes to avoid mental abuse and over fatigue.
If 25 minutes is much longer on your task, you can combine small tasks to spend your 25 minutes in a productive way. Examples are making an outline for your blog, checking your email, calling a friend, and more.
These small tasks can be combined in one session of Pomodoro to lessen your tasks and avoid procrastination in your excess time.
On the other hand, if your task will eat more than 4 sessions of Pomodoro, then this task should be divided into the smaller task to manage your time and finish it successfully.
What if there is an interruption in the middle of your Pomodoro session? If there is an interruption in your 25-minute session, you can start the timer from 25 minutes again and take your 5-minute break in advance. Please make a note or list the possible interruption and think of a way to overcome it.
In my personal opinion, this technique really works. In fact, I am writing this blog while doing Pomodoro. As of writing, I still have 6 minutes to finish my first session of Pomodoro then I will take a 5-minute break after this session and start again in 25 minutes.
This is my actual setup of Pomodoro, the first-timer is currently counting down. It is my 25-minute timer, the second one is my 5-minute break and the last one is my long break. I usually edit it from 20–30 minutes.
The 5-minute break on each session really helps a lot to avoid mental abuse and overfatigue. In my personal experience, since my subjects are mostly Mathematics, my head is quite aching in computing Math problems. But because of the Pomodoro technique, this headache is fading away by means of taking a 5-minute rest after the 25-minute of work.
Meanwhile, longer breaks can help our brain to make us balance both work and rest. A 30-minute break is important after the 4 Pomodoro sessions to keep the mental health balance.
Conclusion
If you will read a lot of comments and blogs about Pomodoro, you will read a lot of positive feedback from them on how it is effective and life-changing.
In my point of view, this is literally life-changing once you learned how to master and manage your time correctly. This old saying “Time is gold” is undeniably true and no time should be wasted.
This technique is effective for me, but it always depends on the person. There are people who probably have more ways to overcome procrastination and keep their productivity every day. It is a matter of beliefs after all.
people who probably have more ways to overcome procrastination and keep their productivity every day. It is a matter of beliefs after all.
