Oh, Joe

Entry 127 was really interesting to me since in the author note Malek states that he (I think it's a man) tells this story to his students around mid-semester. I found that very smart and I feel like I may need to utilize this type of method, if not this exact story, if any of my students face this dilemma next semester. I theorize doing it in the same manner as Malek may be more successful than the over-used motivational speech and also allow the students to apply the story to themselves without my directly doing so.

1 tomato, 2 tomato, 3 tomato, floor

So, last night I took my first attempt at a Pomodoro, as suggested by the video we watched in our class yesterday. I began at 9pm and completed my first cycle at 9:25- I mean obviously...it's a 25 minute exercise. Anyway, I felt pretty good about my first one, so I decided I would try it out again. I felt myself stealing peeks at the timer as I wanted the 25 minutes to be over so I could get back on Facebook, but I kept my game face on and held steady on my ride on the Pomodoro Train. After my second attempt, I felt more drained than I had initially though I would and realized an hour had already gone by. Go figure- two 25 minute exercises with 5 minute breaks at the end... who knew it would equal 60 minutes?! (But really I didn't even think about that until I was done) So now it's 10pm and I'm thinking, "I can't go to bed this early." So, I give myself a soup break and get back on the Pomodoro Train at precisely 10:30. I worked on a different assignment since I was a bit burnt out on the first one as I was typing furiously and trying my hardest to give my best effort. DON'T BE OVERWHELMED AND DO A TON OF POMODOROS OR YOU MAY END UP LIKE THIS GUY! vvvvv

This attempt felt substantially longer than the last two and perhaps it was due to the assignment type, but perhaps I had just done too much Pomodoroing for my first day. I guess starting out slowly and easing my way into the extreme 5-a-day Pomodoro cycle, like the pros do I'm sure, is the best option. Though I was skeptical of the Tomato-themed productivity challenge, I am glad I gave it a shot, or a few shots rather, and I'll for sure utilize it in the future- if not every day as my only way of doing work, certainly every now and then to remind myself of the fundamental short-term focus advantages when working on stuff.