Originally published at TheFieryWell.com in October of 2022, The Pomodoro® Primer for Magic Makers article has been updated and broken up over a series of posts for The Coworking Coven. This is the fifth article of the series.
The tasks you do during your Pomodoro sessions matter.
A lot.
Your tasks should be selected and chosen with intent.
- What tasks will chip away at your goals?
- What tasks are causing anxiety that you could face head-on?
- What tasks will make you feel good once they’re completed?
- What tasks can you complete in a Pomodoro or two?
That last one takes time. And observation.
If you’ve been doing and tracking your Pomodoros for a period of time you have observed, and learned, what tasks and what type of tasks you can complete in a Pomodoro. If you are new to Pomodoro, this is your chance to learn what you can accomplish in your Pomodoros.
Writing down what tasks you want to do and marking how many sessions it required to complete the task, how many times you were interrupted and for what, and what else came up helps you to see how you can better tune those boundaries around your time and focus on the task(s) at hand. It also helps tune and “perfect” your time estimating going forward.
The Pomodoro is here to support your work methods, not force you into a specific way of working. The Pomodoro is a container, but like any good box, you have to choose the right size for the job.
Brain dumps are not to-do lists
A brain dump, while highly recommended, is not a task list. Don’t try to Pomodoro your way through an entire list of brain-dumped randomness. This will only lead to a sensation of defeat, overwhelm, and anxiety.
Use the first Pomodoro of your session purely for brain-dumping, envisioning, and getting a top-down view of what needs to be done. I find this highly effective! Especially for our guided coworking sessions inside The Coworking Coven.
Because it’s timed, members can often feel anxious coming into their first guided coworking session. Questions arise and perfection rears its head. What do I work on? What should I do?
All things you only learn as you show up and attend the coworking sessions. I suggest the first Pomodoro is spent actively brainstorming, brain dumping, and preparing themselves for the work. This reduces the anxiety around task selection. And if this means staring off into space for 25 minutes–so be it.
Finally, at the end of that Pomodoro session, spend a few minutes selecting what feels best for that day’s time.
Everyone works differently on different things. Embrace the uniqueness of you and your working method, always.
Brain-dump everything and choose your tasks with intent.
Next up, let’s prepare for the rest period, or break between Pomodoros. This step is just as important to prepare for!