Eat that Frog with a Pomodoro
The Pomodoro Core Process consists of 6 steps:
1. Choose a task to complete:
Choose a task which you want to complete, it could be as simple as cleaning your room or maybe a bit different as to start working on your dream goals which you you would do tomorrow.
2. Set the Pomodoro timer for 25 Minutes:
Decide on yourself that you are not going to let any distraction come in your way in these 25 minutes and start working on the task you have chosen, and if distractions still find the way to you, note them down and try to delay them or cut them off completely.
3. Work on the task for 25 minutes until the timer rings
Keep working on that task for 25 minutes straight. Try not to lose focus along the way.
4. When the Pomodoro rings, put a check mark on a paper:
Great Job! You are going perfectly fine. Reward yourself.
5. Take a short break:
Reward yourself with a short 5 minute break, make coffee for yourself maybe, or check a WhatsApp conversation maybe 🤔 (That’s important too, right?)
6. Final Step:
After repeating the process from 1–4 for 3 to 4 times, take a longer break and freshen your mind completely. Take a small nap maybe (but do get up in 20 minutes)
My Experience:
I have used this technique at different times in my life not knowing what it was called, the time not necessarily being 25 minutes before but it varied time to time. This time I am going to use it to keep proper track of things and the best thing? I know what the technique is called this time :)
As you might have guessed, I am writing the first portion of this article and I have not yet tried the technique, I will come back again when I am done with a task to update on my progress about how did it go and how was my experience.
And I am back to share my experience, it was a great experience overall, helped me complete my task productively. I chose two tasks to complete using Pomodoro technique.
The first task I chose to complete using this technique was my Amal Fellowship project: Creating a digital time grid of my routine, it was an amazing experience. During first 25 minutes there was no distraction and I was completely focused on my work, then I took the 5 minutes break and started again and here comes the twist where I faced unavoidable distractions including power loss and changing my working area due to weather conditions (I was working outside in lawn). Anyways, I completed the task in 3 parts (25+25+25 minutes). I would have ended sooner as I was working with complete focus but some problems turned out in the first time grid I made. I will share the final one I created:
A little explanation of the time grid:
This time grid activity is a part of an a course “Learning productivity and time management”. It helps in reflecting over my daily routine and how I can make better use of 86400 seconds which I get daily :)
After the long break:
The second task I chose was to work on research of my project for Amal Fellowship, I was searching for a sustainable social entrepreneurship idea and guess what? Due to focus I was finally able to come up with an idea to help local businesses and hopefully I will be writing on that idea soon in my future blogposts In Sha Allah :)
While working on this second task, the felling to check up on my social media came up 2 or 3 times which I avoided during worktime and instead checked in the 5 minutes break. A little twist: I did check my WhatsApp messages though once (or maybe twice)😁
Conclusion:
The Pomodoro technique is a great way to help focus on one task, the way it has helped me is by ringing the timer every 25 minutes to help me take a break which I often forget when I am working on projects and keep working for long hours. I have learned that by taking short breaks every 25 minutes, we can increase our focus much better and it also helps us reflecting on the work we have achieved in last 25 minutes. It increases the overall productivity of work.
