The Pomodoro Technique

Time is our most important asset. In a famous TED Talk, also included in Amal online courses, the speaker talks about the presence of an instant gratification monkey in the brain of a procrastinator. Though this concept was very funny, I could really resonate with this. In order to control this monkey, there is this amazing technique of Pomodoro. With the help of these techniques, tasks can be done more simply. I had to review some emails and sort out important ones since I was so busy in other chores. Emails were 10–15 in number, out of which only five were important. So, I decided to implement this technique and find out the importance of this technique.

I started at 1:00 AM, sat with my laptop and egg timer ON. In the first 25 minutes, I was able to divide the ones which needed a reply and the ones which were generic and did not need any reply. I was interrupted by my phone, my thoughts, late night snacks and cats. However, I did not bother and tried to do work without leaving my place. After 25 minutes, I gave time to some of the above interruptions for 5–7 minutes as a reward for myself.

I started again at 1:35 AM, now the task was to respond to emails one by one. I usually take about seven minutes to respond to an email, so in this Pomodoro, I completed responding to all emails. Same distractions were faced, however, my phone was on charging so it was not playing its role of distraction. After 25 minutes, I finished my work and enjoyed instant noodles.

I plan to implement this technique in future, as it really helped me overcome my procrastination. For blog, I chose a smaller activity, since I think that it would become difficult to concentrate for a longer duration. Since my exams are probably next week, I will try to utilize this technique.