My mind, 40,000 feet in the air, is just like the skies I’m flying through: vast and infinite. I have the will to finish tasks I had been procrastinating on for months. I find the clear immediate goals in new projects I wasn’t sure where/how to begin.  But most importantly, I start to unload whatever new ideas that were stirring in the back of my brain.

My last two airplane rides have been back to back triathlons for my mind. I arrived back at EWR with 3 new projects on my plate. Three projects, all of which, I’m equally excited about.  (And if you’re reading this, it’s likely you’ll be excited about these developments as well. Keep lifting me up in them prayers y’all.)  But I say all this to say, if I wasn’t already a hermit crab, I’m pretty sure I’ll be one within the next 60 days.

I’m basically a slave to my house and to my computer.  For the past 6 days, I’ve spent every spare second pounding the keyboard and dumping my brain onto endless concept boards. Tonight is another one of those nights. My Friday deadline is inevitable, but for the first time in a long time, the amount of work in front of me does not seem so intimidating. In fact, I’m positive I can complete the work, AND can likely tell you how long it will take me to complete it! Down to the minute.

Impressive, right?

Last month, I was complaining to a coworker about how I had felt like I would look up after 3-4 hours of work and feel like I accomplished about 10% of what I had imagined. She quite enthusiastically recommended that I give the Pomodoro technique a go.

The WHAT-A-WHAT technique? Yeah, I thought the same thing.

“The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.[1] The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. These intervals are named pomodoros, the plural in English of the Italian word pomodoro (tomato), after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that Cirillo used as a university student.”

My coworker instantly shared an app BeFocued Pro that had me up & running in minutes. She briefly walked me through the app, lightly glazed over the concept, and sent me on my way.

The first 25-minute increment was brutal. I expected that my mind would magically clear up and work in overdrive because it knew it had to accomplish some shit…. and quickly. I tried 3 more “pomodoros” and finally arrived to my long break.  That long break turned into the rest of the day. I didn’t give it much of a try.

Later that night, I decided to do my own research. I figured if I had a better understanding of the method, I could better discipline myself during that 25-minute increment.  I downloaded The Pomodoro Technique ibook and 3 more suggested apps.  Next, I put together a plan to give the method one more solid attempt. I decided to stay with the BeFocused app and loaded it with a healthy to do list 5 items long. Just to really make sure I was committed I set an actual date with my Pomodoro app; My next plane ride.

So now, here I was, on another flight ready to work. My mind was wide open, I had a full battery, and was ready to run this timer into the ground. Bring it on Pomodoro method, watch me work!!

In a total of 12 pomodoros with 3 breaks, I knocked out my entire to do list. That’s right in 345 minutes, I had knocked out 2 months worth of procrastination. Just like that.

According to Sean Kennedy, a Product Marketer helping people improve their productivity with automation:

I’m now about 3 weeks into this technique and so far, I’m a full-on promoter.

So guys, another night full of work is ahead of me. My clocks are set. 25-minute increments for the next 4 hours. Join me, check out BeFocused Pro and begin tonight!

Oh yeah….. I ALWAYS need a good playlist to get me through a night full of work so I started this playlist below. Buuuut it’s only an hour and a half long. Are there any other binge workers out there burning the midnight oil? Do you have a Spotify account? I need your help! I went ahead and made the playlist collaborative so please go ahead and add away! Please throw some songs you think will keep me…. AND you, going. 🙂