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Really useful post, thankyou.

Specifically for me, the part about wrestling with focus... I tried Pomodoro a while back but assumed it was something you just either 'got' or didn't - it didn't seem like something anyone without ADD would have to work for. So when it didn't quickly work for me, i just threw in the towel. Maybe I'll give it another shot.

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Pomodoro happened to work for me, but other tools may have been as effective. I've tried a few and, at the worst point, I couldn't focus for more than 15 minutes before becoming distracted. It may also have been due to my massive fear of starting this huge project and, finally, having a chance to prove myself... or not, as my fear said. Pomodoro may just have been the tool I was using at the point the fear finally began to lift, and my productivity took over.

If only it was something you either "got" or "didn't". I think it really depends on your personality and what you're working on. I find that it works best for long, drawn-out projects where each single task can take hours (so I used it a lot during school). Now, sometimes a task will take 10 minutes, others 45 minutes, others 3 hours, and so I find that it's much more difficult to break down work into Pomodoros.

One of the valuable things about Pomodoro is just the forcing factor. You might have a bunch of random tasks with varying lengths, but getting into the habit of "I will work on X until this signal" forces you to actually start and get into the swing of work, rather than procrastinate.

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