Challenging Myself: The Pomodoro Technique

Throughout my life, the one problem that I consistently faced was being unable to manage time
while doing stuff. It annoyed me at times and I suffered because of it many times especially
when I was in undergrad. I was always a hard working person and it’s in my nature to stay
committed to whatever I’m doing whether it is my education or any other task. But during
exams, I used to suffer a lot and was mostly depressed because I couldn’t manage my
preparations and couldn’t schedule them appropriately so that I cover all the content in-time.

Joining Amal Career Fellowship has been a life-changing experience for me right from day one.
I learned a lot of valuable lessons from it till today and the journey is still going on. An exciting
new technique that I came across a couple of days ago was the Pomodoro Technique, a great tool
to save time and reduce distractions. In Pomodoro, we break down a task into several intervals,
traditionally 25 minutes, with small breaks, usually 10 minutes, in between tasks. The idea is to
reduce distractions while the timer is on and treat ourselves to celebrate what we achieved when
we did the task uninterrupted.

Eating the Frog!

Two days ago, I was about to start my Amal course, Creating a Superhuman Resume. It
comprised of several modules with small videos and feedback section. Keeping in mind the
Pomodoro, I decided to apply it on myself. The course had 24 modules. I divided them into 4
intervals with a target to complete six courses in each interval. I started at 2 pm in the evening,
set my phone’s stopwatch to 25 minutes and started the first chunk. I really enjoyed the entire
process and for the first time, in like forever, I realized how fast the time moves. I was constantly
looking at the stopwatch while doing my work and it gave me so much drive to achieve my
target before the watch ticks. To my surprise, I completed six modules in 22 minutes with three
more minutes to go. With loads of joy, I reset the watch to 10 minutes, went up and fried myself
some delicious spring rolls to treat myself. I loved the experience!

#KudosToPomodoro
Wow! Couldn’t believe it! Pomodoro proved to be my redemption. I enjoyed doing work more
than ever and the treat at the end just makes the experience even better. I felt more immersive
and less distracted while doing my tasks. It made me more productive, time-bound and increased
the pace of my thought-process.

I’ve made Pomodoro my everyday mantra since then and I’ll use it as much as I can to improve
myself and challenge myself to new achieve my goals both at work and in life. I’ll keep on
exploring this technique more and see what I can do to improve it for myself. I’ll keep sharing
my experiences with you guys.