How I Use the Pomodoro Method | Productivity & Focus in Grad School

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Hello, friends! If you’ve ever done even a smidge of googling on productivity tips you’ve probably heard of the pomodoro method! It’s a super popular tactic for trying to increase focus and motivation, but how does it work and when does it work best? I’ve been a big fan of the pomodoro method since I started grad school, so today, I thought I’d share how I use the pomodoro method as a student and my favorite was to implement it for long projects in academia.

What is the pomodoro method?

The pomodoro method is a productivity technique that encourages you to work in timed increments with small breaks in between. Usually, one pomodoro is 25 minutes, then you take a 5 minute break before doing another 25 minute pomodoro. After you repeat this process 4 times, you take a longer break of up to 30 minutes. Though it might seem like a lot of breaks, during the pomodoros, you are meant to focus entirely on the task at hand without any distractions so that you can get more done with less time. By breaking up your work into smaller increments, the pomodoro method tries to reduce fatigue from long work days and increase focus & motivation.

My Favorite Pomodoro Timers:

How I use the pomodoro method:

The pomodoro method can be really useful for work in grad school and academia because oftentimes the projects we work on are super long and frankly, they can be kind of tedious! Though I don’t use the pomodoro method on a daily basis, it’s a productivity tool I use at least 2-3 times per week and I find that it’s especially helpful in these situations:

• Starting tasks. This is how I most often use the pomodoro method - to start a task that is kind of a pain in the butt! I usually like to to dive into work first thing in the mornings and I find that setting a timer helps me get off the ground in the mornings.

• Low motivation. The pomodoro method is also great for getting out of a rut! I usually run out of work steam early afternoon but that doesn’t mean I run out of things I need to do! When my motivation is lower, starting a pomodoro helps me at least get something done rather than nothing at all.

• Long projects. I find that the pomodoro method is also especially good for long projects because with long projects I often feel like I’m making no progress (even if I am!). When the tasks are long and difficult (e.g., cleaning or analyzing data or writing a paper), pomodoros help me feel like I’m getting something done. Rather than not being able to check of the big to do of “writing a paper”, I can look at all of the pomodoros I completed and feel like I really accomplished something! It’s all about the framing!

• To be more aware. Finally, the pomodoro method has been hugely helpful in becoming more aware of how I’m actually using my time and how long I can actually do focused work before becoming distracted. On average, I’m usually only able to complete about 4 hours of focused work (about 10-12 pomodoros) before I get restless, so rather than trying force more than 4 hours of focused work, I work on less taxing tasks after I’ve hit the 4 hour mark.

Guidelines for making the pomodoro method work for you:

Though I discussed at the start of this blog post how the typical pomodoro method works, I personally use an altered pomodoro method based on many experiments with my own motivation. Since the goal of the pomodoro method is simply to allow you to be more focused and productive with the time that you have, I think it’s totally appropriate to revise the method in a way that fits your productivity style. It’s easy to give up on a productivity method when it “doesn’t work” for you straight out of the box, but I’ve found that it’s almost always more beneficial to frame something as one tool in a tool belt of productivity techniques that you can pull out and use when the time is right! So, here are some general guidelines for how to make the pomodoro method work for you and ways you can alter the pomodoro method to better suit your own work style.

• Experiment with time frames. The standard pomodoro method recommends 25 minutes of work with a 5 minute break. I usually work in increments of 15-20 minutes instead because it seems to work better for me. Experiment with different amounts of time and see what seems to fit your work and your attention span! Honestly, 15 minutes might not sound like a lot but you’d be surprised by how much you can get done in 15 focused minutes.

• Allow yourself to get lost in a task. There’s a lot of mixed advice out there about whether you should stop working after finishing a pomodoro and force yourself to take a break or allow yourself to keep working if you are still focused. For me, allowing myself to get lost in the task is actually the whole point! I use the pomodoro method specifically to help motivate me to start more tedious tasks or get started on longer-term projects so if I’m able to use a pomodoro to help my mind focus and get lost in the project, then I like to let myself keep working even if the pomodoro is technically over.

• Don’t let yourself get distracted by anything else. This one’s pretty self explanatory, but it’s vital to the pomodoro method! Because you’re usually focusing on work for small increments of time, don’t allow yourself to check any notifications or look at anything else but your work for those 15, 20, or 25 minutes! You can always check those notifications during your breaks.

• Check those pomodoros off your to do list! Part of the whole benefit of using a pomodoro to motivate yourself is getting the satisfaction of being able to check those suckers off once you’re done! It always makes me feel like I’ve accomplished a lot when I’m able to see how many pomodoros I’ve completed.

Though I don’t use the pomodoro method every day (sometimes, I prefer to set a timed goal where I make a promise to myself that I’ll get XYZ submitted by noon!), it’s a super useful tool for jumpstarting my motivation and feeling accomplished during long projects! Do you use the pomodoro method? Does it work for you? Let me know in the comments below!

How To Decide Which PhD Program is Right For You | Applying to Grad School

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Hello, friends! It’s that time of year - grad school application/interviews/admissions time! Since it’s likely a topic that’s on your mind if you decided to apply to grad school this cycle, I thought I’d take some to share what were some of the determining factors when I was deciding what grad school was the best fit for me 3 years ago!

To start, a little about what my perspective was (and still is) before starting my PhD program. My primary focus has always been long-term well-being and happiness. My belief is that you have to work on cultivating a life and mindset that bring you joy and that it ultimately cannot come entirely from a career, a place, or a person. I came into my graduate program from this wellness perspective because I had experienced many workplaces that I didn’t enjoy and wanted to create a career for myself that focused on what brought me joy.

Though there’s a lot of advice out there that focuses on the prestige of a program or the reputation of an advisor, my perspective will be a little different because my focus has never been on the highest pay, the highest prestige, or “getting to the top” of any career. So, as always, take my advice with a grain of salt and make sure that you know what’s important to you in a graduate program!

(1) What’s the vibe of the department and/or the program? (aka the culture)

Admittedly, I’m very much a person who goes by the “vibes” of a place - which may not be the most rational thing in the world. But, what I mean by that is checking in with how you felt about a place! Were the people nice to you? Did it seem like a competitive environment? A nurturing environment? Did it seem like people were genuine? If you’re someone who thrives off of competition, maybe a program where you felt competitive vibes is a good thing! For me, I usually try to get a sense for whether an environment is nurturing and genuine because that tends to be a good fit for me personally.

(2) Are there people there who study things you want to study? What is the relationship between faculty and students?

Since the researchers in your program are likely going to be the ones who serve as your mentors and advisors throughout your PhD, it’s important to have people in the department who do research on topics you could actually see yourself studying. Now, this doesn’t mean that they have to study exactly what you want to study but oftentimes, faculty may move to other universities, or your personal research interests may change, so it’s nice to have options within your own program should you need to change direction.

Alternatively, if there are very open, highly communicative relationships between students and faculty members, you may not need to have people there who study the things that you’d like to be studying. If they’re open to studying the things you’re interested in and open to supporting you in your own research interests, that can work, too!

(3) Who will your advisor be? Or how will your advisor be determined?

For me personally, this was priority number 1 when I chose a PhD program. It’s listed at #3 here because I know that it’s actually not top priority for everyone! In my personal experience, my mentor or direct manager has a HUGE effect on my happiness so I knew that who my advisor was and whether or not we connected was a VERY big factor for me. I was also very particular about having a mentor who understood my work style, what I needed as a mentee, and would be an advocate and friend to me throughout my program. So much so that who my advisor was slated to be ended up being about 75% of my program decision.

However, that’s just my story based on how important a mentor connection is to me. A specific relationship or work style may not be what is most important to everyone - for some it may be a mentor’s reputation, their connections, the funding they might provide - but it’s worth thinking about what kinds of mentors or managers you’ve worked with in the past and what kind of mentor you think you’d work well with for the next 5-6 years of your life. Your advisor has a lot of power over you and your career so it’s important to find someone who is a good fit for you. They don’t have to be the perfect mentor for every aspect of your life (you can always find support in faculty members who are not your advisor as well!) but they will serve a very big role in your life for this next chapter.

(4) How will your physical and mental health hold up there? What support do you/would you have outside of the program? Do you like the location?

What kind of support do you have from the university? Are there opportunities to meet and connect with people and resources outside of your program? Also consider the general area - do you have people you know in the area? Friends or family - or even social groups, networks and organizations that could support you outside of the program?

I also advise everyone who asks to seriously consider whether they like the location of their program. There is A LOT of pressure in PhD world to go to whatever school is the “best” (subjective in my opinion) and to forsake your own happiness to commit to your career and education. Frankly, life is too short for that shit. If you know that you get depressed when it rains (hello, it me!), maybe a program in seattle isn’t for you. If you are miserable in the cold, maybe a program in the north isn’t for you. There should be no shame in choosing a program that allows you to get the degree you want while also not making you miserable 🙂

Personally, I chose to get my PhD in a location where I was familiar with the resources available to me. I’ve moved for jobs in the past where I knew very few people in the area and had to figure out what was available on my own. There’s nothing wrong with an experience like that - in fact, it can be quite exciting! - but for the start of a PhD program - which I knew might affect my anxiety levels - I wanted to reduce my stress levels as much as possible and knowing that I had social support and local knowledge was extremely helpful in making the transition.

(5) What are your goals after the program? Will your program get you to those goals?

This might seem like a silly thing to ask yourself before you even start a program but I’ve found that having your reasons WHY you want to start a PhD program are important to determining what program is right for you and how you distribute your time once you are in your program! Do you want to teach? Is research your priority? Are you aiming to go back to industry after your time in your program? Do a deep dive into what you want and, if your program can get you there, that’s really all that matters.

My last piece of advice is always to TRUST YOUR GUT and BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. Be honest with yourself when no one is watching and no one is in your ear telling you what they think you should do. We often have these little voices inside of our heads that are echoing societal pressures, what our families want us to do, what we think others will think of a choice we make. If you can, try and quiet those down and determine what matters to you and only you. There is more to this life than your PhD, and there is more to your life than this career. What matters to you matters - because it’s your life and no one else’s. Maybe that’s just a reminder to myself, but I figure maybe you need to hear it, too 😊

I hope this was helpful! Have any other questions about PhD programs? Let me know in the comments or send me a message - I’d love to hear from you!

How I Set Goals for the New Year as a PhD Student & Academic | Goal Setting in Academia

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Ahh, goal setting. Boy do I have a lot of thoughts about goal setting haha! As much as a I often roll my eyes at its prevalence in the productivity world, goal setting is one of the most research-backed ways of getting things done - especially if you’re setting goals that are specific, measurable and achievable. But what happens when you’re a grad student or an academic and you’re working on projects that take months, if not years (IFYKYK)? Here’s how I like to goal set at the top of the year:

TIPS FOR GOAL SETTING IN ACADEMIA

Some of the challenges for goal setting in academia and in any other profession that require lots of long-term planning are:

1. there is often an overwhelming amount of stuff to do.

2. there are LOTS of demands on your time.

3. it’s often difficult to feel like you’re making progress on long-term projects.

4. goals are often changing or need to be altered to fit changing situations and expectations.

These challenges make goal-setting especially difficult because it’s important to make sure that goals are specific and achievable. When your projects are super long, tedious, and feel like they’re never going to get done, it can be super discouraging (at least for me!). So, my main tips for setting goals in academia is to keep a couple of things in mind:

1. Flexibility: One of the things I find especially challenging about research projects is how they feel like they are never done and are constantly changing/bouncing around. Most of the time you submit a paper, it gets rejected or at least requires a relatively time-consuming revision, so a project that felt like it was “done” was only really done temporarily and gets bounced back onto your to-do list. For me, this means that I have to goal set on a digital platform. As much as I love a written to do list and used to love goal setting in a notebook, nowadays, it’s completely impractical because the deadlines and requirements on my projects change on a regular basis. With my goals on a digital platform, I’m able to update my goals as needed without feeling too stressed by the change 😊

2. Keep your goal setting low pressure: On long-term projects, goals often change and update as the situation changes and it can feel like you’re not making any progress. So when goal setting, I try to focus on keeping my goals low pressure. A common piece of advice is to make sure that your goals are achievable. I find that this is especially important in grad school or academia because we often have such pressure from the industry to publish 1,000 papers. Remember that you’re a human. You can only do so much with your time, and that’s okay.

   We also face a lot of pressure as a society to set all of these lofty goals at the beginning of the year, but it’s worth remembering that you can always update and change your goals - no matter WHAT day of the year it is. As I’m writing this, it’s January 8th and I’m just now starting to set up my goals. It’s okay to take your time thinking about what you really want out of a year - what’s most important to you - and what is most achievable that year.

3. Focus on breaking things down: In order to make these big, long-term goals specific, measurable and achievable, you HAVE to focus on breaking down those big projects! I like to break things down into small pieces that I can tackle by month, week, and day - which I’ll talk more about next!

MY GOAL SETTING BREAKDOWN

Alright, now let’s get down to the actual the nitty gritty about how I actually break down my goals for the year!

(1) Theme of the Year

I like to pick a theme for each year depending on what I feel like I need for that year and what I’ve experienced in the past year. In the beginning of 2020, my theme for the year was being my own advocate because I’d experienced a lot of things in my program that felt like they were out of my control. In 2021, my theme was peace. This year, my theme for the year is to make space - because over the past year, I’ve often felt like I didn’t have enough time for my work, for my social life, or for my own well-being. This year, I want to focus on what I do have time for and realizing that oftentimes, the belief that I don’t have time or space for certain parts of my life is really something I’ve imposed on myself and something I’d like to reframe in my approach to life. I usually put this theme of the year on a post-it note or a letterboard as a constant reminder.

(2) Divvy it up by Personal vs. Work

Next, I usually divide up my goals by personal and work goals. Though at one point I would put all of my goals in the same document, I now prefer to put goals into separate personal and work notes because I have a tendency to overly focus on my work goals and not my personal ones. Having them separated helps me devote time and energy to my personal goals when I choose to set aside time for personal goals without being distracted by all the work I think I should be doing 😛

(3) Categories

After dividing it up by personal and work, I categorize goals into 4-5 broad categories. For my work goals, it usually involves admin, research, teaching, and dissertation. For personal this year, I’ve included categories like blogging, travel, hobbies, and wedding. Within those broad categories I’ll note important dates and big high-level projects within each of those categories (e.g., defend my dissertation, spring semester or book winter trip). I’ll also usually set numeric goals for myself in each category such as hitting a certain number of average pageviews on my website by the end of the year or submitting a certain number of research papers for publication by the end of the year. Though I don’t always hit those numbers, I find it motivating to have numbers in mind as long as they don’t seem too unachievable! 😊

(4) Break it Down by Time Frame.

Finally, I focus on breaking things down by time frame. For me, the important thing about planning for the year is to keep things big picture. I break down my annual goalsetting notes by month so that for each category I know what my goals are for the year, but also how that shakes out for each month. I also typically only shake out the smaller goals for the first 4-5 months and then fill out the rest of the months as the year progresses. For example, I know that this year, I’d like to work on getting 5 research papers under review, so I’ve divvied it up so that I spend January (when I’m on winter break) working on getting 2 papers out and then the rest of the spring semester (when I’m busy with my dissertation) I’ll go at more of a slower speed at 1 per month. That’s the timeline for now, but it can certainly changed based on how the semester shakes out! So, rather than just making one huge list of all the lofty things I want to do during the year, I also try to break it down by month so the plan to get there is more concrete.

So, how do I use these goals in everyday life?

Well, since I like to keep my goals on a digital note (usually on icloud notes), I re-visit them on a weekly basis to figure out what I need to do each week. If I know I need to send in a paper by the end of the month, I’ll delegate a week to cleaning and analyzing the data and pick another week to get the paper written. Even though it might sound a little over the top, I find that going through this methodical process of breaking everything down means I’m less likely to get overwhelmed and not so hard on myself. It also makes me feel more like I’ve achieved something in a career where positive reinforcement is rare 🤣

Welp, I hope this helps you set your own goals for the new year as a grad or phd student! Have any other questions? Leave me a comment - I’d love to hear from you!