Why the Pomodoro Technique Doesn’t Work for You and Me?
Productivity is a word we hear every day from our colleagues, our teachers, and even on social media. Getting things done, following our goals, and meeting deadlines are some of the most important parts of our professional and personal life. But how can life be interesting without a villain? Here our villain is procrastination. If you have ever suffered from it, you know how difficult it is to brush it off and focus on what’s important.
So, to increase productivity in their fellows, Amal Academy introduced us to the Pomodoro Technique. We have all heard of it from time to time, right? All that familiar drill of choosing a task, setting a 25-minute timer, taking a 5-minute break, noting down the distractions, and so on. This technique is a go-to for the majority of people. Here is what you probably want to hear, “This doesn’t work for me and you, and we don’t know why or sometimes we do.”
Just to make sure it really doesn't work for me, I decided to follow the Amal guidelines and give it a go for once. It backfired. The timer and noting down distractions took all my focus. “How in the world does it work for others?”, I thought to myself. I tried for hours and then days but to my despair, it only wasted my time and gave me stress. Now, my project was overdue; I had to figure something out.
I knew I am that person who has two modes: focused and unfocused, no in-between. I decided to find an alternative technique for me because I believed I was not the only person who felt this. I researched and found a modification of the Pomodoro technique which seemed to be more practical for someone like me. It is called the Flowtime Technique by Zoë Read-Bivens. You, like me, are probably dreading wasting time on another technique that doesn’t fit you. But this technique gives us the freedom to personalize.
This technique is based on our focused and unfocused modes and is a modification of the Pomodoro technique. So, how does it work? Start by choosing one task only and work until you start feeling unfocused. You are free to work as long as you want and there are no dreadful timers. Then when you start feeling distracted, take a break.
Once you start feeling refreshed, get back to work. You can start noting the start and end time of your focus and this will also helo you know how long you can stay focused. Then, you can work on improving your focus time using different techniques. This will help you not feel tied to something and will ultimately help you increase productivity if you do not like to follow strict deadlines like me.
You do not have to stay stuck on this technique and can modify it just as you want. You can also create a column for distractions if you want or a reward table for yourself if you stay focused for a longer period of time. You are free to experiment. Create your own version and hack your productivity!
