My biggest concerns with going back to school are study technique, time management, work ethic, and procrastination. I feel like it’s worth looking into the science of studying; what are the most effective methods? I never thought twice about the efficiency nor effectiveness of studying in undergrad. It’s not often that we stop and think about the tasks we do every day. On numerous occasions I’ve taught my coworkers and managers shortcuts for Microsoft Office applications that would save them hours of time in the long term. So with that said, I’ve been looking into the science of studying.
The first thing I came across is something called the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method developed in the 1980s by Francesco Cirillo. Basically you break your workday into 25-minute chunks with 5-minute breaks in between. Here’s Kat Boogaard, writing for The Muse:
The idea behind the technique is that the timer instills a sense of urgency. Rather than feeling like you have endless time in the workday to get things done and then ultimately squandering those precious work hours on distractions, you know you only have 25 minutes to make as much progress on a task as possible.
Additionally, the forced breaks help to cure that frazzled, burnt-out feeling most of us experience toward the end of the day. It’s impossible to spend hours in front of your computer without even realizing it, as that ticking timer reminds you to get up and take a breather.
At first, working in such small increments felt unnatural. There were quite a few times—especially in the beginning—when I was tempted to ignore the timer and continue working. But, I forced myself to stick to the format.
After some time, the technique started to really gel with me. I was focused and insanely productive during my work time, as I was eager to get as much completed during that 25-minute interval as I could. I didn’t find myself mindlessly scrolling through Facebook or getting sucked in by those pesky clickbait articles. And, as a notorious multi-tasker, I noticed that I was totally zoned in on the one project at hand.
Because I was forced to get up and give myself a rest from staring at my laptop screen, I found that I actually did feel better at the end of each day. Not only did I feel like I had put in an honest day’s work, but I also felt less stressed, blurry-eyed, and cramped up.
It makes sense, right? It’s overwhelming cracking open your laptop with the entire day ahead of you, an amorphous blob of time. When do you start? When do you stop? I like how she was eager to get as much done as possible in that 25 minute stretch. It’s a manageable enough amount of time to not be overwhelming. It looks like a potential pitfall is continuing working when you’re in the zone. I’ve read that it takes a while to get back on track when you are interrupted, but if you are the one doing the interrupting, I suppose that makes a difference? This is definitely something I’m going to try.