The Focal Newsletter #8 🧐 Is Tomato a fruit?

And did you know about the Tomato Technique?

A quick re-cap of our previous sent newsletter (July 24th, 2023).

The Productivity & Positivity Newsletter.

Morning! — It’s that day of the week again! Meaning another excellent week for another great journey to take. Don’t forget to drink some water from time to time. (Did you know, on average, individuals should drink around 1 gallon of water per day??) If you are feeling stressed or unhappy, take a breather, go out for a short walk, put the tasks down for a moment, and enjoy what life has to offer. With that said, it’s going to be a great week. Let’s focus in.

Trivia of the Day: Why do dogs like squeaky toys?

👍 Positivity: Patience is truly a virtue.

🤔 Productivity: The Tomato Technique. 🍅

🧐 Prosperity: There are no shortcuts in life.

— David H.

“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

— Epictetus

Positivity

Patience is truly a virtue.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash.

I believe patience is THE ultimate skill to have in order to bring success and/or peace into your life. No matter what you do or what you pursue, all goals and tasks take time to reach their destination. Rushing the task will bring the risk of unfinished product/service, or missing crucial details that could possibly help solve future or current problems along with expediting the process.

Especially as our time is already in the midst of the “Attention Span Pandemic.” We are in constant search of something, most likely dopamine, in the quick and effortless way possible. Training our minds into thinking that good things come quickly and effortlessly. Which is completely the opposite of the truth. Great things that bring purpose and meaning are never a quick and easy journey. It’s a life’s journey. Anything that brings eternal joy will always take patience and time to achieve. It will never be an overnight success as joy is created through the process of doing. Through the process of a journey, rather than the destination.

And all destination takes time to reach. No matter if it’s a short grocery trip or a cross-country road trip. The joy comes from the trip itself, not necessarily the destination. And not all destination is what we expect. So how do we develop a more patient mindset?

Here are some actionable examples:

1. Get rid of Dopamine Search: The best action to take is to remove the constant search for dopamine in the easiest possible way there can be. Don’t look for dopamine, but rather look in a more logical way. Patience derives from logic. Barely derives from emotional intelligence. Understanding great things and joy comes with effort and time is the easiest way to develop a more patient mindset. And when we are not in search of dopamine, we are in search of the present time.
2. Understand Effort with Time: With the logical approach, we will understand that great effort will always take a great time to achieve. Even for those individuals who are able to complete complex tasks in a short amount of time, never came to mind overnight but rather came from years of effort and patience in doing. We will eventually reach to the point where we think we can’t progress forward, or worse we think we are progressing backwards. Which will never happen. It is either a standstill or forward progress. And in order to combat this toxic mindset, patience with yourself and understanding that time will solve all problems is the ultimate subconscious motivation to have when pursuing something that is deemed “impossible.”
3. Find the ‘Why’ in the things you do: So if understanding time is the ultimate subconscious motivation, what is the ultimate conscious motivator? It is the ‘why’ in the things we do. Why are we doing the things we are doing? Having a deeper understanding of your conscious actions will develop a better, personalized motivator in achieving the patience mindset. With proper reasoning in the things you do, patience will come passively when times get rough or become a standstill.

Patience is Truly a Virtue 😶‍🌫️

Productivity

The Tomato Technique. 🍅

Photo by Avin CP on Unsplash.

The Pomodoro Technique (or some call it the Tomato Technique) is a series of productive, time-framed working schedules. The main reason why this technique was created is because of a psychological study of when individuals feel the most “in-the-moment” and “hearty-focused” when doing one task of work.

From multiple studies, the average time frame of pure focus is around 25–30 minutes. 25 minutes just to be safe. Followed by a 5-minute break and resuming the 25-minute workflow. Do this about 4 times (4 workflows and 3 breaks) and the 4th break is a 15–30 minute break depending on how cognitively exhausted the previous workloads were.

But be careful, when on break, you should focus on activities that do not ruin your attention span and start going into the “Dopamine Finder” mindset of mindlessly scrolling through social media. But rather search for activities that drive severe interest attention. The ones that give you a bright smile either on the inside or outside.

So here are some simple useful break activities:

• Take a nice walk and see some greenery.
• Close your eyes and listen to some calm music.
• Love a craft? Do it.
• Meditate!
• Or, you can exercise.

The Pomodoro Technique, in detail

Here are some reasons why this may work for you:

1. Stressed about Time Management: Pretty straightforward with this one. The Pomodoro Technique revolves around time management. For many, horrible time management is not necessarily unable to “manage time,” but rather unable to manage cognitive focus on one particular subject for a prolonged amount of time. Usually, working on anything for a long time will eventually have a decreasing amount of productivity focus as time moves on without a proper cognitive break. The Pomodoro Technique ensures you focus on the work that is in front of you and will inform you when it’s necessary to take a break without losing cognitive interest and focus.
2. Stressed about Decision Making: When you are constantly bombarded with decision-making on a daily, stress will eventually be built up along with fear and distrust in one’s self. And this all refers to “decision-making fatigue.” Use the Pomodoro Technique as a research and development time during the 25–30 minute workflow. The 5-minute break will be your thought gathering and relaxation time. If you feel like the first workflow was not enough to finalize your decision, keep going until you’ve reached your longest break time and that is when the decision will be made. (Be careful not to be stuck in what I call “analysis paralysis” mode. Make that decision and take action.)
3. Can’t get rid of Multi-tasking behaviors: Closely relates to being stressed out about time management. Pomodoro Technique essentially helps eradicate the “multi-tasking behavior” due to prolonged work time. The multi-tasking behavior stems from uninterest in the current work we have. And the uninterest that is developed is due to our decline in cognitive function. In some cases, multi-tasking behavior can also stem from an overload of work. Too many tasks that are needed to be finished in the day and not sure how to efficiently finish them in a small amount time frame. That’s where a proper workflow with proper recess will bring better statistics in completing the tasks than going into the workload without a proper plan of action.

Prosperity

There are no shortcuts in life.

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash.

🫠 The Difficulties of Life. Life is definitely not easy. Honestly, it was never easy since the beginning of time. Deadly rays of radiation come from the only source of light we have during the day and it’s what brings food to living organisms that produce a quality that is needed for more complex organisms to exist. While at the same time, the same source of energy can cause deadly diseases and mutations, and will eventually be the bomb that ends all life in this solar system. But life still persevered. Life exists and is flourishing like never before. This shows no matter what deck of cards life gives you, mother nature always finds a way to make the best use of it. So if you are dealt with the worst deck, will you fold or try to finesse your way through? In the end, we don’t know what the table has to offer, but we will never know if we fold too early.

🤔 Why can’t we just get it? We always wonder why we can’t just get what we always wanted. Why can’t it be easier? Why does it have to be so difficult to achieve a dream or goal we have? Let’s say, you are able to achieve the things you’ve always wanted. Will you be satisfied? Will you truly be satisfied? People say the ultimate joy in whatever journey we chose, comes from the journey itself and not the destination. The destination is just the cherry on top. But the main dessert is the actual journey we are taking. The memories we make, the lessons we’ve learned, the people we’ve met, and the hardships we’ve overcome. Maybe that is why we don’t get the things we want so easily, as the truest happiness comes from the journey itself.

There Are No Shortcuts In Life, even with AI.

Trivia Answer

It mimics a dying animal. 😔

The Newsletter for Productivity & Positivity.

Thanks for taking the time to read my article! 🫡

If you’re interested, I’ve created a Free Weekly Newsletter about staying Productive and Positive curated from professional studies at Harvard Medical School, MIT, Johns Hopkins University, and much more. Oh, and also personal experience :)

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The Focal

Stay Humble Peeps. Time is Precious. ⏰