How I Use the Pomodoro Technique® – Series “Personal Productivity and Time Management”

At heart, Pomodoro® is nothing more than timed focus. But in a world filled with constant distractions – from phone calls to notification to people randomly asking you stuff – being able to deeply focus on a task can feel like a superpower.
Like many of the techniques and tools I’ve been exposed to over the years, I first heard about the Pomodoro Technique® , created by Francesco Cirillo, through an article on Lifehacker. Follow the links for more info if you’d like more background.

(Disclaimer: Note that this blog post is not affiliated with, associated with, or endorsed by the Pomodoro Technique® or Francesco Cirillo and the Pomodoro Technique® is a registered trademark of Francesco Cirillo.)

How to Use

The Pomodoro Technique® is quite straightforward. At its most basic:

Choose a task on which to you’d like to make progress
Set a timer for 25 minutes
Work on that task for the 25 minutes without distraction, interruption, or breaks
Then repeat

There is definitely more to it than what I’ve described and if you’re interested in seeing how to use it in a more complete fashion, I recommend you can visit the creator’s site at https://cirillocompany.de/pages/pomodoro-technique.

My Usage in Writing Fiction

Where I really find the Pomodoro Technique® useful is in helping me remind myself that I have a superpower – the ability to focus deeply in a single task. When I find resistance cropping up in the form of tiredness, apathy, boredom, impostor syndrome, or whatever, this – more than almost anything else – gets me through it or past it to the creation on the other side.

If I’ve scheduled time to write, but the day has been buzzy and distracting, it can be hard to get traction to start creating. If I can’t get going on my own, out comes the timer and I try to do at least two rounds of Pomodoro®. Amazingly, once I get into the project again, the creative juices take over. This goes hand in hand with that other “mind trick” I use and Just Open the File. If I can just get started, the engine catches and I can keep it going.

The other scenario I find it helpful to use this technique is when I’ve run into a block. Something about knowing that if I can get some words down during one of these sprints gives me the confidences to break through to the other side.

Applications and Apps

All of the above applies to drafting prose for me particularly, and to editing and revision work. Since I work in the realm of novels, that’s usually working on scenes or parts of scenes.

Consequently, I have also found that I can’t use it when I’m outlining or for other pre-writing activities. For those, once I get going I don’t want any artificial clock stopping me. Further, motivation isn’t an issue because a new project is by definition new and shiny. So less useful a technique in those cases.

As for apps, any timer is works. I’ve used Google’s built-in countdown timer (just do a search for those terms) and my watch timer. The original used a kitchen timer. Simplicity is a big part of why this technique works, so no need to overthink it. Get a timer, use it.

If you want to use an app for continuous sessions, I can also recommend the ClearFocus for Android. I like the layout, colors, and the way the app automates rest periods and longer bouts (stringing multiple sessions together over a couple of hours).

Who It Might Not Work For

If you deal with anxiety or if timed anythings set your teeth on edge, then the Pomodoro Technique® likely won’t make creating easier. I know a lot of people can’t stand the idea of creating to a clock; since that’s the whole point of this technique, it will likely not work for you.

Additionally, some types of creation just don’t fit well into 25 minute chunks, nor with the idea of deep focus. Some people can create just fine flitting from flower to flower in their garden of ideas. If you work 10 minutes on one scene, then 15 more on a character bio, then 5 minutes searching for a good inspirational background image, and then back to writing a scene, you might get annoyed when the timer goes “bing” right in the middle of your flow.

If you work in those kind of chunks, you could try it, but I really think 25 minutes is a nice sweet spot for getting deeply focused and then letting yourself have a break. If that isn’t how you work, you could modifying, but I’m not sure this style of technique would work.

Finale

If you’d like to learn more about the technique, and there is more to it than just what I’ve talked about, you can visit https://cirillocompany.de/pages/pomodoro-technique. Check it out there.

So, what questions do you have? Have any of you had good success with this technique? Please share in the comments below.

Achieving Flow – Series “Personal Productivity and Time Management”

Have you ever found yourself so invested in an activity that you forgot to eat? Hours passed in what seemed like minutes and during that time you find that you’ve completed a whole lot of whatever it was you were working on? According to my university choral conductor where I first learned about it, and to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who has done the research on the topic, you’ve experienced a bout of flow. And I’m convinced it’s a trainable mindset that can be invoked when needed.

For a bit more clarity Wikipedia defines it thus:

In positive psychology, flow, also known as the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one’s sense of space and time.

History (a new section I’m adding for this article)

At Brigham Young University, I had the chance to join the BYU Men’s Chorus, an auditioned choir that – during my first year – was being newly directed by Rosalind Hall; a 200+ male voice choir with a wispy, effervescent Welsh woman as conductor whose accent took me completely off guard the first time I heard it. She quickly became one of my favorite people in the world.

That was the first of 6 years in the various choirs at BYU, many of them directed by Sister Hall. But it was during that first year that she started talking to us about flow. The way she described it, she wanted us to focus on the music, on our production of it, on her direction, on blending with our neighbor, on finding the right emotional connection, on anticipating tempo changes, and on and on.

And all that was too much she would say – too much to try to be actively focusing on if you were constantly hoping from thing to thing in your mind – am I blending? did I stick out too much on that note? did I cut off on time?

Instead, she encouraged us to work towards getting into flow, where the business of life and the business of creation both fell away and left you in a state of deep, satisfying engagement. You weren’t worried about what the final song was going to sound like or or if you were going to have it memorized. Rather you just rehearsed, in the moment, fixing what needed fixed right there.

She’d have us take a moment at the beginning of rehearsal and clear our minds, setting aside anything that was distracting – an upcoming test, anxiety about a date, homework problems still undone – and for that hour let ourselves be subsumed by the music.

After 6 years of practice, it’s a state I can drop into at will, especially for performing music, but anywhere else I want as well.

How to Use

The Wikipedia entry states that Csikszentmihályi’s Flow theory has three conditions that have to be met to achieve a flow state:

One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals and progress. This adds direction and structure to the task.
The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows them to adjust their performance to maintain the flow state.
One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and their own perceived skills. One must have confidence in one’s ability to complete the task at hand.

The first item to me seems self explanatory.

As a solo writer, #2 is an interesting one because that immediate feedback seems to indicate that another party must be involved. But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. For me, this means that whatever I am working on has visible results that I can critique or modify – words actually appearing on page. That’s part of why I prefer to type my fiction instead of hand write – the length of time required to write by hand means that my brain is already off to the next sentence while I’m working on the current one, or visa versa in that I have to spend so long on the current sentence I don’t remember where I’m going next.

I’ve heard that some poets prefer type writers or hand writing their work for specifically this reason – it slows them down so that they can choose the right word.

The last condition is also an interesting idea – being able to do something and being able to be confident to do it. I have found this to be true as well in order to be able to get into flow.

I I believe learning some meditation techniques could be useful in training your brain to mitigate distractions which can help you get into flow. But this one is harder to give a lot of counsel on without actually knowing you and your situation.

My Usage in Writing Fiction

I find I can get into flow do most things related to writing unless I’m just really tired or distracted. Drafting is where I use it the most as it can be very easy to sit down and draft without breaking concentration. Fiction writing or blog posts are places where I find myself really falling into flow.

And revision – especially polish edits. I get caught up in the flow of my own story and find myself tweaking words here and there while I read along. I really like using it here because I can definitely tell when something in my writing pulls me out of the narrative. I suspect that readers are most annoyed with a story when it pushes them out of the flow they get when reading a good book.

Applications and Apps

Applications can be just about anywhere as I stated before. Any activity that could benefit from deep focus could benefit from achieving flow. But for me, I would say the best application is learning to make it a habitual mindset. The more often I can drop into flow, the more I can get done while also enjoying the process. And this is a lot of what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about – that flow promote happiness.

I don’t necessarily agree with some of his assertions about how to achieve happiness in life, but I will confirm that I find myself happier when I finish a flow session. And I do think artists and creators who are able to be more productive and more creative by getting in flow will have more to be excited about in their work.

For apps or programs, I think it’s the opposite. Turn off notifications on your phone, close the email tab, and let people know not to disturb you. Flow can be hard to maintain if you constantly have things clamoring for your attention.

Who It Might Not Work For

Further, some types of creation just don’t fit well into 25 minute chunks, nor with the idea of deep focus. Some people can create just fine flitting from flower to flower in their garden of ideas. If you work 10 minutes on one scene, then 15 more on a character bio, then 5 minutes searching for a good inspirational background image, and then back to writing a scene, you might get annoyed when the timer goes “bing” right in the middle of your flow.

Finale

If you’d like to learn more about the technique, and there is more to it than just what I’ve talked about, you can visit https://cirillocompany.de/pages/pomodoro-technique. Check it out there along.

So, what questions do you have? Have any of you had good success with it? Please share in the comments below.

My Reflections on Writing Excuses 12.51 – Constructed Languages

Episode Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟

Humor: 🌟

Usefulness to me right now: 🌟

Perhaps is because of how much I enjoy the whole crew, but when it’s just some of them doing the interviews, those are the episodes that I find be the least satisfying. And I don’t think this has anything to do with the hosts, but my own expectations.

This week’s episode is an interview/panel with Dirk Elszinga, an associate professor of linguistics, and focused on using constructed languages in fiction.

The biggest take away I had was that it is worthwhile to consider language background and usage if doing secondary world fiction (which most of mine is). Even down to how names behave. While I think this is something that I should consider, I’m not certain how far the rabbit hole I’d need to go – i.e. how much is anyone really going to care?

And this is probably where I would need to examine my own biases. Small tangent here – recently, I started re-reading a debut novel from a favorite author and noticed just how much my own critical eye has changed since I first read this book. I first read it just before I was starting to consider being an author and novelist. What I’ve noticed on this re-read is how much the author uses simile compared to now where he uses metaphor. And just how much more effective the later is.

As a reader only, that first pass didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story at all and the “limitation” of using similar vs. metaphor was lost on me. So I wonder how much of that really matters for the general populace.

This is similar to the discussion that is ongoing in the film space – critics have the things that they look for in movies, and in some very high profile cases recently, the critical opinion has diverted strongly from popular opinion.

I think constructed languages could very well fall into the same category of things – those in the know might really appreciate it while others may not care at all. So, how much effort should a writer expend? Brandon Sanderson has talked about this in his world-building lecture and I think I’ll echo what he said – Do enough to make people think you’ve done it all, but don’t do it all. Pepper little things around your story and world-building that at least let people know you’ve considered something, but don’t solve all of it.

And that’s where I think constructed languages is going to go for me right now. Maybe that can be a place in the future for some more craft building.

Just Open the File – Series “Personal Productivity and Time Management”

To start off this series about personal productivity and time management for writers, I thought I would offer up a tip – or at least a phrase – of my own devising.

I call it Just Open the File (JOTF) and it’s such an absurdly simple idea that I hesitate even calling it a tip. But it has worked for me. And it might work for you.

How to Use

Just Open the File is exactly that – a personal mantra to remind yourself to open whatever it is you are working on – outline, revision, draft, character sketch, blog post, or whatever. Push past the feeling of boredom with your current opus, ignore the siren call of one more round of Splatoon 2, and leave aside the micro slam poetry battle on Twitter.

You open the file. It’s the smallest step you can take while making forward progress. Feel conflicted about where your story is going? JOTF. Got writer’s block and can’t decide what to write? JOTF. Hate everything and want to start over? Just open the file.

My Usage in Writing Fiction

I use this to trick my brain into using my existing habit of “working on what’s in front of me.” When I started learning about habits and habit forming (a whole ‘nother series) I kept hearing about “lowering the threshold” to the thing you wanted to do.

An example of lowering the threshold for a new habit: Want to work out more? Leave your workout clothes out and visible so you see them more frequently, so they’re right there waiting for you to put on as soon as you get home from work.

For me Just Open the File is an attempt to hack the routines and habits I already have. I’m the type of person that works on what I have open. If I see something sitting open in front of me, I start to “ideate” on it – little blips of thought of how or what comes next. So, opening the file of my current project lowers threshold to actually working on it because, well, there it is, right there, in front of me.

When I am feeling decidedly bad and don’t want to work, I make a promise with myself that the only thing I’ll really push myself to do is to open the file. That’s all the will power I have to have. If I do open the file and I still don’t want to work, that’s fine. Good, even. I celebrate it. Look at me! I opened that file. Let’s send out a dance gif.

And then, almost invariably, I get this feeling that I could do just a bit more. Not much. Maybe a sentence or re-read a paragraph. Even then, it might not be much. But it’s forward progress. It’s better or more complete than what I had.

And I do this over, and over, and over, until eventually, I don’t have to think about opening the file, I just do. I start.

Applications and Apps

I use this everywhere – personal and professional. Every time I feel myself resisting doing work I know I should be doing, I just re-state my little contract and open the file.

There aren’t really any apps per se – it could be opening an email draft or re-reading a text from somebody about something I don’t want to do. Anything where that sense of “Ugh, do I have to?” pops up. Use JOTF as a commitment to make forward progress.

Who It Might Not Work For

Type A, super-go-getters, major productive heroes. You lot already have this problem nipped.

Less tongue in cheek, I think this is something that could useful everywhere. Finances? JOTF. School homework? JOTF.

It’s all about making the first step so small it doesn’t actually feel like a step.

Finale

What other simple hacks or tricks do you use to get motivated to work on what you don’t want to do?

Leave comments below. I look forward to ~~stealing~~ seeing them.

My Reflections on Writing Excuses 12.50 – Form and Function

Episode Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Humor: 🌟

Usefulness to me right now: 🌟 🌟

(for the rating obsessed types out there – these are out of 5 stars)

This was a great episode, mostly for the content and the interplay with the Chicago hosts. I really like Wesley Chu and Mary Anne Mohanraj as additions to the hosting crew – Mary Anne especially. I love her insights and I get a lot from the perspective she brings from her experience outside of speculative fiction. Tangentially, it’s likely my humor metric above will track with Howard’s appearance on the episode – we’ll see.

This week’s episode is about how form can dictate function within the realm of writing. It covered everything from writing for audiobooks to long form writing using a quill and ink to Eric James Stone’s business card flash fiction (which is a TOTALLY awesome bit of self branding – yes, I have been watching vids about marketing; why do you ask?).

My first paid project as a writer (woot woot) was writing a series for a stage production of radio plays for local theater group Main Street Radio Players – which allowed the troupe to perform a live show without the need for elaborate costumes and sets. I did a four episode crime thriller.

I LOVED doing this project even though it was so incredibly hard. Everything in that story had to be reflected through dialogue and sound effects – and even then, the sound effects got cut. Trying to tell a story that way when all my previous experience had been to only pepper dialogue through out was most challenging. Getting mood, story tone, description, BLOCKING (for crying out loud), through just dialogue was such a powerful growth experience. In that case the form of medium dictated entirely HOW the story could be told.

I couldn’t rely upon tricks like exposing a character’s internal monologue or letting silent “glances” or “looks” convey beats. I did use a narrator, but limited it to episode introductions and scene transitions. It was a fabulous experience.

Back to reflections on the episode – the gist was to use these different forms as ways to experiment, to break out of ruts, and to break through blocks. While I could see doing a different “form” for a scene just to try something out, a lot of the growth from my experience came from doing a finished work.

Do I think every writer should try a complete work in a different format than their norm? No, absolutely not. But I think there may be many writers who will treat this idea as just one more writing “gimmick” and miss out on a beneficial experience.

So, if you’ve done things like this before and didn’t find them useful, give a little more thought to doing something larger or more complete. That said, it’s not the kind of thing I think a writer should worry about. If you want to expand your craft and your flexibility – go for it.

Personal Productivity and Time Management for Writers – Series Introduction

When I was 17 or 18 years old, I attended a evening seminar with my dad presented by Franklin Day Planners (now Franklin-Covey). In it, the speaker, Hyrum W. Smith, gave a lecture about time management concepts and demonstrated the use of the Franklin Day Planner system.

It was engaging and intriguing and I immediately turned to my dad after it was over and we decided to invest in a day planner system for me to use my senior year of high school in prep for college.

Since that time, I have gravitated towards lifehacks, techniques, tricks, and systems all with the goal of improving my work and my life and reducing the amount of stress that those inevitably cause. I’m not passionate about it or only live thinking about how I can squeeze one second more out of my day, but I do find the idea and application useful for reducing stress and improving balance between all the various things that pull at my time. So, I’ve done a lot of reading, experimenting, and research into the various time management and project management choices that are out there.

I’m no expert, but I have used and do use many of these in my daily routine.

In this series, I want to discuss these several options in relation to being an author and novelist. I won’t make a ton of recommendations because personal productivity and time management can be very individualized. But I can at talk about how they might be incorporated and where they might be useful for a writer.

Quick Disclaimer: None of the items in this series are endorsements for any product, software, or system. I’m not getting paid to promote or write about any of them. These are just reflections on my own personal use and suggestions for how others might be able to use them.

Subscribe, follow along, engage in the comments, and share your thoughts and experiences. I’m always on the lookout for new things to try.

What’s Next For Me

There are a lot of things I want to do: the next story, revisions of my first novel, agent pitches.

But one that’s been in my mind a lot: getting better at building a writing community.

laptop-computer-writing-working-table-person-764428-pxhere.com — Building a writing community

One of the things I have loved most about the particular community of writers that have taken me in is that we aren’t all that much into critiques or brainstorming or being “writerly”. There is however a contingent that is out to make this a business and a viable one at that.

In other words – we have professionals.

And the thing about being with pros is that you kinda can’t help thinking like they do – working to deadlines, showing up, bringing your craft into the light, putting yourself out there – pros get it done. And I realize that I’ve got to step up and be a better pro myself.

Part of that is going to revolve around the new website and changes which I am researching right now and will bring online within the next month. Another part of that is forcing myself to learn and to even like stuff I haven’t wanted to deal with: marketing and personal branding.

I’ve got some plans for how I’m going to tackle those and a lot of it is just getting the ideas into my head.

How does all of this go towards building a writing community?

I don’t know exactly. But it’s gotten me thinking.

I recently had a conversation with a potential beta reader and another acquaintance about books. Both of these individuals expressed an idea that harmonized with something that I have felt – both as a reader and a writer.

They both said how much they valued authors and writers that they could trust.

I’ve thought a lot about that since we spoke and about what that means to me. And I don’t yet know how it will take shape going forward, but it will be part and parcel of what I hope to build – here and in real life.

The community I want to help build is one of trustworthy authors.

Again, I don’t know exactly what that means, but I definitely want to figure it out.

What does that phrase mean to you? Who are authors you trust?

Let me know, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Writing Excuses 12.49 – Nonlinear Stories – Reflection

Episode Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Humor: 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟

Usefulness to me right now: 🌟 🌟

This week’s episode about nonlinear storytelling was intriguing thanks to the way the episode plays out (which is really more enjoyable for fans who are familiar with the the show), but then also in all the examples they used to talk about nonlinear approaches to storytelling.

I think nonlinear stories are by very nature different because so much of our memories and the way we tell stories in the moment mirror the linear fashion in which they happened. But I was impressed at the various examples they use during the show. The only one nonlinear story common enough to get its own category was the flashback, but the other examples were good in helping to flesh out the thought space of the episode.

I will say that for me, nonlinear stories have been a lot of fun. The ones I remember most are the ones where a story plays out multiple times, each from a different character’s view point. This has started to become a more common TV episode trope that I see being used more and more frequently. I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets it own name soon like flashback. Maybe it already has and I just don’t know about it.

The other exmaple that I don’t think got discussed was the flashforward. The one I am thinking of is the TV show Dollhouse. No spoilers, but there is a moment in the first season where we flashforward in the story to a future date. The technology used in the show has been abused making for a future that is very different than then original story. In that show, I think the flashforward actually did help to frame the story that the regular show better.

Finally reflections: I don’t know that I personally will be doing anything nonlinear above and beyond the occasional flashback, but it was a good topic to consider to get me thinking of ways to use a different tool.

Coco (Film – 2017) – Review

Coco-movie-image-2 — Coco – courtesy of Disney Pixar

Short, sweet, and to the point – I loved Coco.

I loved what it made me feel even thought I didn’t exactly love how I felt (WARNING: this film will cause feelings, especially if you have experienced familial loss).

I loved the themes, the animation, the music, the characters, and the voice acting.

I loved that it never felt as though the filmmakers were trying to “pander” to anybody or assume the audience was stupid. By that I mean that I, as a non-Mexican who has only limited understanding of what the Day of the Dead represents, never felt like I was being coddled nor that the subject matter was too precious that it couldn’t be shared with “outsiders”. Everything played straight.

But what I think I loved most of all was that this showed that two people/writers/groups/films can have the same story idea (on the surface at least), and yet tell completely different stories.

One of the first things that I learned from Brandon Sanderson via the Writing Excuses podcast was that often, the difference between a good story and bad story lay less in the nature of the idea and more in how that idea is implemented. To paraphrase:

A great idea written by a mediocre author will not be as good as a mediocre idea written by a great author.

The understanding that you don’t have to have the most unique, the most entertaining, the most transformative, or the most artistic “idea” to be successful was liberating.

On the surface, Coco could sound very similar to another animated film from the recent past – Book of Life. Both are about the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead. Both have music as a central theme, and how music relates to the protagonist. Both have the protagonists’ families as being VERY against music and trying to “force” the protagonist into the family business. Both feature visits by the protagonist to the underworld and a need to escape. Both discuss families and forgiveness. Both have prominent participation of Mexican directors, writers, and actors. Both are CGI.

But these movies are as different I think as one could get for having what seem like similar trappings.

And that’s what I love – both Coco and Book of Life are films worth seeing. Both are worth enjoying. And both have place in helping us learn to forgive our families and in teaching us to make room for the rising generations.

Go see Coco.

I’m probably going again.