Pomodoro's and me!

You may be thinking what the hell is Pomodoro. You should be, I guess that is why you are here, the attention grabbing name caught your squirrel mind and you had to know. I'll get into Pomodoro's shortly, but before I do, you, most likely are stuck in the house because of COVID-19 under many different circumstances:

1. By yourself;
2. you and your wife or partner;
3. you and your kids;
4. you, your wife and kids; or
5. a mixture of those.

In most of these cases, you have been stuck in your house for the most part, trying to work at home, provide child care/learning, or maybe just doing nothing but watch Netflix and eating. My wife and I, I think, fit into most of these.

We are both working at home, both of our kids are in school so we are trying to provide "home schooling" -yes I use quotes there as there is not much of schooling happening- we are eating well, too well in my case and we have been burning through Netflix series nightly. 

While I am eating well and healthy meals each day since I am not at work going to lunches and such. I am also sedentary most of the day every day, sitting at my computers with also a sedentary mind.

We are think we are multitaskers, we are not. Maybe a very small sub section of society, but you and I are not part of that.

Since being at home trying to do the above, I've been getting no where. Not feeling like I am advancing in French, getting no where fast with work and contributing to the COVID-15. 

Now you may be asking, what the actual hell is COVID-15?

It is a term that has been coined for the acceptance that most people sitting at home due to COVID-19 will or have gained 15lbs. And, I am not one that the COVID-15 has missed, though, it's more like the COVID-19.5 for me. :-( 

So what can I do to break my mental thoughts that I am getting no where academically, professionally or physically?

I was reminded about a training course that I took a while back called Time Management at PMC Training taught by the wonderful Samantha Biron. If you came here from my Facebook, you may have seen me speak of Sam prior. I've done every course that she teaches at PMC and recommend them all. 

The reason why this time management course came to my mind was Pomodoro Technique. 

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks, 5 minutes in length. Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word for 'tomato', after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo used as a university student.

I have used this technique in the past and found it works, unfortunately, I have not stuck to it. So I thought why not give it a go again. Maybe it will help me feel and be productive academically, professionally and physically.

I started earlier today and guess what, I felt like I actually got some learning done, work completed and managed to get a run in on the treadmill. So, I decided to plan my tomorrow, by the time of this posting, my today.

Watch the video below for a better breakdown/introduction to the Pomodoro Technique.

Give it a try, you may surprise yourself, but remember 25 minuets of focused time on one task, then a 5 minuet break/refresh at the end of each 25 minuet interval. Although I am still not completing what I would normally complete if I were at work for the day/week, I am feeling like I am moving forward and not stuck in a rut.

Hopefully this can help you during this unknown time. Start small with one or two Pomodoro's see how it goes for you, add more if you feel confident. Even a few can make you feel accomplished. 

Here is a easy online timer that you can use: Tomato Timer. There are also a ton of apps for Android and iPhone.