Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Reconstructing Life With Tomaotes

Last check-in was a bit of a pity party. I was feeling very down about feeling overwhelmed. I am still feeling overwhelmed, but the light at the end of the tunnel no longer looks like an oncoming train. Thanks to one of my ROW80 buddies Dawn Montgomery I learned about time management with the help of a tomato. She suggested The Pomodoro Technique. The basic premise is to set a timer and work for 25 minutes, called Pomodoros, then take a 5 minute break. After you run 4 consecutive "Poms" you take a 20-30 minute break. My plan is to use the poms to help me make it through tasks and focus when I am writing or doing writing related tasks.

New revamped ROW80 goals:

1. Spend 2 poms on plotting using Hiveword.

2. Spend 2 poms on posts for this blog.

3. Spend 1 pom on social media for blog posts.

4. Spend 1 pom on visiting other ROW80 bloggers.

That is about 3 1/2 hours a day if I run them consecutively, less if I only get 5 min breaks.

Notice Rowan pretending to fight on the right.
I didn't even try to push myself to reach the old goals and I just today decided on my new goals. In this sort of limbo state I still managed to plot in Hiveword Sunday and Tuesday. We did a little demo on Monday for a friend. We left at 10am and didn't get home till 2am the next morning, but it was loads of fun. The only other goal I worried about was visiting ROW80 friends and I was able to visit and comment on 5 posts.

What tips and tricks do you have to reach your goals? How do you reward yourself when you meet a new one? Leave me a comment and don't forget to let me know where you came from so I can follow you back.

Photos by Pixabay.

8 comments:

  1. I use timers of varying lengths, and I combine hometending with writing - moving between projects, or focusing on only one, if it's intensity time...

    Getting up and down keeps me able to move ahead with cleaning and decluttering projects, oxygenates my blood, and often triggers new ideas as I wash dishes or rake the yard or do some other thing.

    As far as rewarding myself for goals attained - I don't. I know that might sound weird - but we unschool, and something that I see daily with my children is that they're far more likely to do things when they choose to, when the rewards are intrinsic in the accomplishment itself.

    In other words, I set goals I'll be thrilled to achieve, so the achievement is its own reward.

    I do like to take a little breather upon completion of longer-term projects - not so much as a reward, though, but as a reset.

    I hope you continue to enjoy your Pomming - and I love your post title! =D

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    1. I am glad you like the post title and I can totally see how combining home tasks with writing would help you stay on task with both. I will remember to mix my writing poms with household management, homeschool and health poms to keep it interesting or when I get stuck.

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  2. Great post! I love to use the Write or Die program for writing. It keeps me moving and writing with less thinking about other things. I'm also a lister. I have a daily list of things I want to accomplish. Some days it's great others it's like WTF was I thinking? LOL. Hopefully we'll both be back on track and kicking goal hiney! :)

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    1. Oh goodness! How could I forget about Write or Die? You showed me that a long time ago and with the built in timer it would be perfect for this. Here's hoping the back on track thing happens SOON.

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  3. I use times/timers for my goals (or some other quantified measure), but... I can't use tomatoes. If they get left too long (and known me, they would), they can really stink. ;-)

    That said, I think you should do what works for you. One can write a lot of words in twenty minutes. Or do a lot of laundry or editing or reading or... Well, basically, setting clear times helps most anyone. So keep on keeping on....

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    1. LOL I do agree that we should all do what ever works for us. I think we are all so different that there is no method that is better it just depends what we need and that could even change at times.

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  4. Okay so your title intrigued me and I was like "Tomatoes, I like tomatoes...especially in sandwich, salsa, or soups." Crap, now I am hungry!! :-)

    Kudos to finding a new system, I do hope it works for you. It does sound like it would. Maybe I will try something like it to see if it works. Hmmmmm!!! My method involves utilizing my early early mornings and/or later nights (right before bed) to get one or two things done. Not the best, but it helps to keep my productivity going.

    Have an awesome week!!!

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    1. Sorry to make you hungry, but glad the title is doing it's job. I should add some of the most concentration intensive tasks to the very end of my schedule. That way all the kids are in bed. Thanks for the idea.

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