Whenever you think about a task you’d prefer not to do, a certain part of your brain associated with pain is activated. In order to deviate from the ensuing negative emotions, your attention is shifted to something else like a video of a monkey riding a pig (guilty as charged).

It turns out that the discomfort we feel before we begin working on something actually dissipates once we begin the task at hand. It’s just the starting that’s the hard part (don’t worry, we’re getting to how to actually start soon).

Not only that but it’s also worth bearing in mind the power of compounding interest. When you accomplish small actions on a daily basis, they begin to compound over time and snowball. This often leads to considerable and tangible outcomes such as having the ability to express yourself in a foreign language, using new skills for career development, publishing your first e-book or seeing your dad bod transformed into a bad bod!

Photo: Ethan Medrano (Unsplash)

What’s Tomato With You?

Introducing the Pomodoro technique. This technique was created in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo and is a time-management tool. The inventor named this technique after a small tomato-shaped timer (Pomodoro = tomato in Italian).

Set the timer to 25 minutes and let the magic happen

This is how it works:

Decide on the task you would like to commit to (writing a blog, listening to a foreign language podcast, plotting the demise of your enemies) Set the timer to 25 minutes Focus on the task in hand intently Finish the task once the timer chimes and note a tick ✔️on a piece of paper and take a 5-minute break (with a small reward) Start the process again until you’ve completed 4 Pomodori (the plural of Pomodoro) then take a longer break (20–30 minutes) and repeat the process.

It’s not absolutely necessary to have a physical tomato timer. I use the Focus To-Do App which is free and available for both iOS and Android.

The Benefits of the Technique

Many businesses and individuals (former serial procrastinators) use this technique to handle distractions and maintain focus on their desired topics. I’ve seen many people professing the advantages of this technique on the self -improvement corner of Twitter (you can follow my new account at @RescuedSelf — couldn’t help myself) and I use it myself to ensure I’m spending time working on meaningful things.

By breaking down tasks into more manageable chunks, workloads become easier to take on too. Furthermore, with the taking of regular breaks, you’re back will thank you in the long run as you’ll have the opportunity to stretch every 25 minutes. Finally, the technique helps keep you motivated. By keeping track of your Pomodori you’ll feel much accomplished. 4 Pomodori add up to 1h40 minutes of focused work but it won’t feel like that because of the way time is divided.

The Coronavirus and Your Time

The enforced quarantining and social distancing many governments have imposed upon their citizens is in fact, a blessing in disguise in some senses. You will never have an opportunity like this again to make use of hundreds of hours of free time to learn something new that will greatly benefit you in the immediate future.

The majority of people I know are binge-watching Netflix (actually, they’re looking at their phones whilst a series is beaming into their faces) or mindlessly scrolling social media to pass the time.

How you use the 16 or so hours each day over the next 2–3 months will drastically change the person that you are now.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Gandalf

Your Next Step

If you’re still reading this, (I hope you are), your next step (and please, please do it) is this: think about one thing you’d like to improve about yourself and write it down on a piece of paper. Don’t do it after lunch or after checking your phone, do it now. Write a tangible step you could take — anything — that would enable you to move forwards with it (even incrementally). Download the Focus To-do app I mentioned earlier (or find the egg timer that’s been relegated to the back of your kitchen cupboard) and start working on it.

Oh and don’t forget to wash your hands.

Sincerely,

A Friend.

Follow me here: https://twitter.com/RescuedSelf

Further Reading