During this time of global crisis, many have found themselves in a state of fitful transition. Many have fallen into a state of unemployment, while others have had to upload their labor and educational efforts onto the digital world. If one is unemployed, they may find themselves with some newfound free time. Writing projects that have lain stagnant in the backs of many brains might find life during this difficult time! Some have found themselves applying to online schools in order to better themselves and obtain greater career opportunities.
However, given the convergence of political tensions, and the stressors associated with the global pandemic, attention spans are waning the world over! If you have found yourself constantly staring into the void that is social media when you are supposed to be writing, the Pomodoro Technique may be right for you!
1. Choose the task that you would like to complete.
2. Set the Pomodoro (the timer) for 25 minutes.
3. Continuously work on your task until your Pomodoro goes off.
4. Place a check mark on a piece of paper in order to mark your period of uninterrupted writing.
5. Take a short break of 5 – 10 minutes. Grab some coffee or tea, go for a short walk, or stretch out a little. Do whatever you want to relax for this time period.
6. Make sure that you take an even longer break for every 4 completed pomodoros (a half-hour to an hour).
Due to the vast, spacious nature of the internet, there is an abundance of misinformation related to writing tips acting as filler for the average website. Also, finding the right writing tips that personally work for you may be trying at times. Nevertheless, the Pomodoro Technique tends to work for most individuals. The Pomodoro Technique was developed in the 1980s by an Italian writer named Francesco Cirillo. The word “pomodoro” is Italian for tomato, which seems like an odd name for a writing technique, but it makes sense when one discovers that Cirillo used a tomato timer to utilize the method. The technique mostly revolves around timing oneself while writing to maintain attention span and focus. Try these six simple steps for yourself:
In spite of the heavy workloads of the modern-day, it is imperative to take small breaks throughout the duration of one’s labor, especially when it comes to tasks such as writing. The human attention span was not evolutionarily designed to place such a strong focus on activities like these. Not only does the Pomodoro Technique facilitate a better attention span, but it also helps prevent cognitive boredom (Almalki, Alharbi, & Aljohani, 2020). Cognitive boredom is a mental state that can prove fatal to one’s writing work, as it compels the mind to wander.
Also, the human body was designed to move, not sit at a desk all day (Ferreira, Muchaluat-Saade, & Albuquerque, 2020). Not only is a sedentary lifestyle bad for physical health, but it can also put a real damper on cognitive abilities as well. By getting out of one’s chair at regular intervals throughout the day, one can enhance creativity, focus, and general mental clarity. Also, this series of breaks typically inspires motivation as one races against the clock to complete the work before the timer goes off (Ferreira, Muchaluat-Saade, & Albuquerque, 2020). The breaks taken in between writing work basically hack the brain’s reward system as well, effectively adding further incentive to complete a task (Browne, Raeside, & Gray, 2018). The breaks also improve decision-making capabilities, as decision fatigue has been known to occur when one remains in a prolonged state of labor for hours on end. Lastly, one’s perception of time can induce stress when it is viewed in terms of an uninterrupted period before a looming deadline. By breaking up into smaller portions, time-related stress is greatly diminished, and this is exactly what the Pomodoro Technique does. (Witowska & Zajenkowski, 2019).
The human mind can be one’s most formidable foe when attempting to undertake large, tedious writing tasks, but one need not suffer through arduous work. Utilizing the Pomodoro technique may just make a gargantuan writing assignment that much more bearable. Try it for yourself the next time you find yourself floundering in your writing assignments!
However, should you find that you simply do not want to take on your writing tasks, we can take care of all of your writing needs. Ghostwriting, academic, business, novels, plays, poetry, proofreading, we do it all!
By Trista Rundatz – Professional Writer
References
Almalki, K., Alharbi, O., & Aljohani, M. (2020, July). Anti-procrastination Online Tool for Graduate Students Based on the Pomodoro Technique. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 133-144). Springer, Cham.
Browne, R., Raeside, L., & Gray, G. (2018, October). Gamification in Education: Productivity and Motivation Through Gamified Time Management Software. In European Conference on Games Based Learning (pp. 867-871). Academic Conferences International Limited.
Ferreira, V., Muchaluat-Saade, D., & Albuquerque, C. (2020, July). B-Move: A transmission scheduler based on human body movements for WBANs. In 2020 IEEE 33rd International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS) (pp. 315-320). IEEE.
Witowska, J., & Zajenkowski, M. (2019). How is perception of time associated with cognitive functioning? The relationship between time perspective and executive control. Time & Society, 28(3), 1124-1147.
