Pomodoro Technique: Pain and Gain!
Before I applied this technique, I was a tad nervous. I wasn’t sure that it will work for me given that no technique had helped me keep my focus but then again, they were self-made (LOL). But keeping in mind the previous tips, especially turning off notifications on my phone and plugging in my earplugs and my passion for the activity on which I applied this technique, got me going.
I thought about a few activities to which I could apply this technique. But I settled on my DIY Farsi session (PS: Please don’t get tired of hearing this because I have made it a SMART goal so there will be a lot of talking [or writing] about it).
As I mentioned in my previous blog that I’ll be focusing on past tense the previous week and on future and present tenses in the subsequent weeks. But to my surprise, there are 6 ilks of past tenses in Farsi.
In the previous blog about SMART goals, I wrote about my work on Simple Past Tense so there were five that remained. Anyways, I set the timer for 25 minutes opened up my book and a youtube link: (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDSNewicsBIAfd6NHavv9iEIEnePN-EbN) and got to work.
Since I performed one cycle of the technique (2 hours), I divided it into 4 quarters of 25 minutes each.
For the first 25 minutes, I worked on the Present Perfect Tense (Ok, Ok! I get it, it says ‘Present’ but trust me, alright?). This tense is about the events that happened in past and has some present consequence, for example, ‘I have done’. When my timer rang, I got up, walked around for 2–3 minutes, and then started working on the next one.
In the second quarter, I worked on the Past Perfect Tense. This tense is “used to refer to an action at a time earlier than a time in the past already referred to”, for example, ‘I had done’. I kept working on it for 25 minutes and took a 3-minute break and just relaxed during it.
In the third quarter, I, with my hands tired from writing Persian script (but wholeheartedly), kept working for the next 25-minutes on the Past Subjunctive tense which is used for an unreal or imaginary situation, for example, ‘maybe, he has reached home’. After it, I had a glass of water and washed my face before starting the next 25-minute session because momentum was solid and things were about to get intense!!!!
At last, in the final quarter, I set the bar a little high and decided to work on Future Indefinite Tense. This tense is I think the hardest one because in it there is a specific way to form a verb, which depends on how the imperative is ending, for example, the imperative ending in ‘یدن’ like ‘خوابیدن’ which means ‘to sleep’, would become ‘خواب’ and the verb ending in ‘ستن’ like ‘شکستن’ which means ‘to break’, would become ‘شک’ along with 6 other ways to form a present form of the verb depending on how the imperative is ending along with numerous exceptions which you have to memorize (Just present tense’s things). I ACED what I always found confusing. I had consulted people who spoke Farsi before, about this tense but I could not understand it as well as today because of serious focus and zero distraction.
I think it was the prior engagement and continuous focus for 75 minutes with less than 10 minutes of break (which usually is a lot longer) and no distraction of any sort that enabled me to give my best during the final 25 minutes of this activity.
I think I should mention this wonderful fact that I did not have any sort of distraction which I had to write down. I started this activity at 2 a.m and ended it at 4 a.m and I feel so great despite being exhausted because doing this task requires so much focus, as you can already see from the examples I mentioned. I was tired but I don’t think I have EVER had so much before. The odd intense fun of this two-hour psychological workout is inexplicable, I plan on using this technique every day, multiple times a day, for numerous tasks.
Thank you, Amal! :)
Here are the highlights:
