“Hi, my name is Zoe, and I’m a procrastinator.”
Chorus of others sitting in a circle: “Hiiii Zoooeeee.”
The first time I recognized my problem was Junior year of high school. I was designing a roller coaster for my Calculus AB class (that had been assigned for a month). It was 3 a.m. and I was leaving for New York the next day. I was having a full-on Britany Spears circa 2007 meltdown over our printer that “wasn’t working.” My hair stayed attached to my scalp, but that’s really only thanks to my epic mom who talked me through how to plug a power cord into an outlet.
Procrastination. We all do it, we all recognize it, and we all hate ourselves for it. And yet, despite all that self-awareness, we persist.
I used to be a grade-A procrastinator, so I am speaking from experience when I say, it’s so much better to just get your sh*t done and move on with life. I started kicking my bad habits last year but didn’t become a full-on productive beast (self-entitled, of course) until about a month and a half ago when I discovered (well, rediscovered) the “Pomodoro Technique.”
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The Pomodoro Technique: A.K.A. The Get Stuff Done & Live Your Life Technique
So a pomodoro is one of those things your great aunt has in her kitchen that looks like a tomato but is actually a timer that winds up to 25 minutes. This technique emerged in the 80’s according to Wikipedia, but we all know what our 8th grade Language Arts teachers have to say about that… Some of you may already know about this fun little productivity tool, but if not, I’ll explain:
Set a timer for 25 minutes. Tackle one task on your to-do’s during that time. Nothing else. What I’m saying is – put the phone far far away.
When time is up, take a five minute break. (I emphasize the word five because you’ll be tempted to scroll through social media for longer – I know).
Repeat this four times over.
That’s two hours of productivity tackled in bite-sized amounts.
Kinda fun, kinda fresh, kinda cute, huh?
Cool thing is – this works for literally anything in life that causes you grief. Like cleaning your house, studying for finals, or I don’t know, chatting with people you’d rather forget from high school… We are more likely to get through painful experiences if we can see the end in sight. That’s just how the human brain is wired. So by giving yourself lots of little lights at the ends of not-so-daunting tunnels, you’ll get more done. And you’ll probably feel a whole lot better while you just do the damn thing.
Okay that’s all for now. I’ve been using this article to procrastinate studying for far too long.
*sets timer and promptly logs off*
XOXOXO, ZO
Art by @Merylrowin