Eat that Frog with a Pomodoro
By: Muneeb Ahmad
Tags: Pomodoro Technique, Time Management Tips, Time Management, Pomodoro, Procrastination

Tackle your procrastination

Getting things done on time can be frustrating especially when you are a procrastinator. Nowadays there are so many distractions that cause us humans time management issues. Especially when smartphones were introduced and the World Wide Web became more accessible. We have become a servant of technologies rather than being their masters.

I am a procrastinator and used to think that there are two kinds of people procrastinators and non-procrastinators.

One day I stumbled across a TED talk, “Inside the mind of a procrastinator” by Tim Urban and after watching it, I realized that everyone is procrastinating on something in their life. The procrastinator system does work but the problem occurs when there is no specified deadline confined to a task.

So, to reduce procrastination I will discuss a time management technique, called the Pomodoro Technique, and my experience with it. It is an Italian word called a tomato. This technique was invented by Francesco Cirillo. He named this technique Pomodoro because he had a small red time clock which looked like a tomato. He used to apply his time management technique in his workflow.

The Pomodoro technique has six core steps.

Choose a task that you want to get done Set the Pomodoro timer of 25 minutes Work on task till Pomodoro rings When Pomodoro rings, put a checkmark on the paper Take a short break After every four Pomodoro, take a longer break.

Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

The task I chose for application of this technique was the second section of an online course that I was doing recently on edx, an online platform for education and learning. The course was, Assessment of Work-Related Injury Risks using RAMP I.

So, I set the timer to 25 minutes after making my mind and setting myself for complete focus. Go! I started doing the course. It was going fine, there was some progress going on and then the timer went off. I stood up and went on the roof to catch some fresh air and thought about the first phase of this technique. Although I was expecting a little more work-done I realized that it depends on many factors like the person under consideration, the task being done, the time at which the task is being done or the surrounding environment. Also, I do want to acknowledge that I was not distracted much except some questions, that popped in my mind, related to material I was studying.

Second Pomodoro was set and again I managed to do work consistently. It felt nice achieving the productive results by the Pomodoro technique. I was fascinated by results but I toned down my excitement and set the third Pomodoro.

In third Pomodoro I felt a little difficult to focus, just a little, that meant my stamina was being tested but completed the third round successfully. I was surprised because usually after half an hour my focus used to be depleted but due to those small five-minute breaks, I was able to work 25 minutes consistently again and again. If you do the calculations, that is around 50% more amount of work in one hour than doing it without a break for an hour.

The real challenge was the fourth Pomodoro. After all, I was starting to feel a little stressed because I was not used to this synchronized and disciplined style of workflow. I was freer, go with flow, kind of person.

In the fourth Pomodoro, I was mentally glitching and my focus was out for 3–4 minutes. I did complete around 86% section of the course.

After that, I thought it is a good idea to have a longer break around half an hour to let my brain catch its breath. It was very productive and I save almost 90 minutes approx. that is around more than 40% of improvement.

I repeated this after an hour and a half (need to work on smaller break), it was pretty much the same experience with a little more efficiency. that is a good sign which means my brain’s stamina is increasing.

I will end it one note, if you are a pro-level procrastinator then the first and major thing you need to care about is, no matter what don’t break your focus and the time limit. Make your self accountable for your focus and time.