The Pomodoro Method has
revolutionized the way I study but when I first started using
it, I wasn't using it right. I would often lose focus, get burnt out, or just not study well. I realized that there are certain ways that you can actually make
the Pomodoro Method better. There are certain ways to
upgrade the Pomodoro Method. And that's exactly what
this video is about, upgrading the Pomodoro Method. (alarm ringing) (smooth jazz music) So what is the Pomodoro Method? If you don't know the Pomodoro Method, I'm gonna go over the
Pomodoro Method in this video and I'm gonna say Pomodoro Method about a million fricking times. So let's start a Pomodoro counter, right around somewhere here. But, okay, So it is this
method invented in the 1980's by a guy named Francesco Cirillo, Cirillo? I definitely said that wrong (computerized voice speaking) And it breaks up studying
into study break increments. The most common way people use this method is to study for 25 minutes and then take a five minute break. That is one Pomodoro session. Then you repeat that four times, except the fourth time you do it, your fourth break is 20 to 30 minutes. And people across the
world, including myself, have loved this method
because it allows you to focus for a certain time and then
take a break for a certain time. So let's get into the ways
to upgrade this method. (smooth jazz music) Before the greatest study
session of all time begins, you need to know what you are
actually going to be studying. For me, it's pretty straight forward, I just study some flashcards
and do some practice questions and that's what I'm doing right now. But I do have a certain
number of flashcards I need to get done every day and I also have a certain
number of questions I need to get done every day. So I plan to do like 200 flashcards and then 40 practice questions. That's my usual days right now. However, this can get more complicated depending on the task. For example, if you needed
to write it an essay, you might need to break it down
in different kinds of ways. For example, you might say,
"First I'm gonna outline what this essay is gonna be about and then I'm gonna complete a rough draft of the first two sections of my essay. And then I'm gonna complete
the rest of the essay. And then I'm gonna edit the essay." It's important that I
have these specific things laid out before I actually
went into my Pomodoro session. A key thing that I'm gonna
reiterate through this entire video is we're trying to stay focused in our Pomodoro sessions, no matter what. Because when we start to not
focus on our Pomodoro sessions, it defeats the entire
purpose of this method. So what if I finish my first task during my Pomodoro Method? So 12 minutes into my first
25 minute Pomodoro session, I finish the video. Do I just cut it short and have a break? No, it's still the Pomodoro session. You're still focusing. So I would just go straight
onto the next thing and I know the next thing
I'm gonna do, right? Because I planned out
what I'm gonna study. So I just go straight
into doing some flashcards until the end of this
first Pomodoro session. Another good way to think about planning is to have goals for the
number of Pomodoro sessions you wanna do you during that day or whatever amount of time
you wanna study for that day. So when I was studying for
my big exams in the past, I used the 25/5 Pomodoro session method. And so I aimed for about 12
to 16 sessions during the day. Which equates to about five to seven hours of actual focused studying a day across seven to 10 hours of work time. So for this first tip, try
and answer these questions. What will I be studying today? What is the order of things
I will be studying today? What is my goal number
of Pomodoro sessions I want to complete today? Or what is the total
time I wanna study today? (smooth jazz music) Tip number two is only
use the Pomodoro Method during work time. Figure out what hours you'll be studying. For me, when I wasn't
doing clinical rotations and I was just in study mode, I would usually study from seven to 11:30 and then I would study from 12:30 to 4:30 and then if I was doing
a heavy studying day, I might study as well from 5:30 to 8:30. Importantly, I'm only
apply the Pomodoro Method during these work sessions. Everyone should get oriented
and organized in the morning. I like to eat breakfast, as well. Everyone should get some
larger break around midday. And if you didn't eat breakfast or lunch you should probably eat dinner and you should also go to
bed at a reasonable time. I know these are crazy things. Everyone should prioritize
mental and physical health over for a little bit extra studying. Trust me, your performance will thank you. I feel like people sometimes go too crazy over the Pomodoro Method. They say, "okay, I'm gonna plan it out so my fourth session, when
I have my 30 minute break, I'll go for a quick run but I'll come back with
enough time to shower so I can get changed and
get back to my Pomodoro." No, no, no, no. Just use the Pomodoro
method during break time. It's okay to take a one or two hour break to go to the gym or to have lunch. These are normal human things. Don't kill yourself here. But when you are in a Pomodoro session, you should stay focused. Trust me, if you are using
the Pomodoro method correctly, you will have more than enough
focus time during the day. (smooth jazz music) Tip number three is personalize the timing of your Pomodoro sessions. The timing doesn't have to be 25 minutes and a five minute break. I don't know why that's
become the cult of timing. Any times, it seems between
the 20 and 60 minute mark for your focus sessions are fine. You need to figure out what
timing works best for you. Nothing someone in the internet tells you is gonna be perfect for you. You have to figure it out for yourself. Many people I know for example, prefer to do the 50 minute study time and then a 10 minute break. So experiment, for one day try and do the 25/5 Pomodoro sessions. Then the next day, maybe
try doing like 35 minutes with a seven minute break. Then the next day, try
maybe doing 50 minutes with a 10 minute break. Experiment. You know you. The only rule to stick to is that for around every 25 minutes of studying, you should and take a five minute break. And after about a hundred
minutes of cumulative studying you should take about a
20 to 30 minute break. So if we were to talk about those three different
strategies, I said before, it would go something like this 25 minutes of studying, five minute break, 25 minutes of studying, five minute break, 25 minutes of studying, five minute break, 25 minutes of studying, then you take a 20 to 30 minute break. That's interval timer
session strategy, number one. Then if you use the 35/7 breakdown, you might do 35 minutes of
studying, seven minute break, 35 minutes of studying,
seven minute break, 35 minutes of studying,
20 to 30 minute break. Then if you use the 50/10 breakdown, you might do 50 minutes of
studying, 10 minute break, and then 50 minutes of studying and then a 20 to 30 minute break. Notice how these all kind of equate to the same study and break time. And that's purposeful. (smooth jazz music) The next tip is if you feel
like you're in a flow state, don't stop studying. Flow is where the task is
kind of in this perfect state where it's difficult but
it's not too difficult and you're enjoying yourself,
so you're just killing it. You're crushing it. If you've experienced a flow state before you know exactly what it is. When I'm in a flow state,
I lose track of time, I forget to eat, I forget to reposition my body in any way. I'm just focused completely
on the task in front of me. Occasionally, I enter this flow state when I'm aggressively
cleaning my apartment or filming these YouTube
videos or studying. Flow states are golden states. I try to stay in them, no matter what. And I try to find them in
my life as much as I can. And when you're in a flow state, evidence shows that your
performance is actually better. This is why, if during a Pomodoro session and I feel like I'm in a
flow state, I'll keep going. So if I know I'm coming near
the end of that 25 minute timer what I'll do, is as soon
is the 25 minute timers up, I'll restart another 25
minute timer right away. This way, I'm still studying
only in my Pomodoro study times but I'm keeping my flow state. Importantly, now that I've
skipped that first break I'll add that break onto my next break. So after I studied 50 minutes straight, I'll take a 10 minute break before going into my
next 25 minute session. If you're in the flow state, stay in it and you can adjust the Pomodoro Method around this flow state. I think a lot of times we see these rules and things on the internet and we think we have to have to stick to them. But if you understand the
reason there are these rules you can break them. (smooth jazz music) The next
tip is kind of a silly tip but use a physical timer. Why do people write in notebooks? Computers have eliminated
pretty much all need for us to write in notebooks anymore. Yet people still hand write in notebooks. People still buy regular paperback books. Why is this? Well, I don't really know. I don't think many people really know but there's some indescribable benefit from these physical things. And guess what? I got that same indescribable benefit from a physical Pomodoro timer. And again, I really have
no evidence for this other than my anecdotal experience
with this physical timer. It's just great. Having this one in front
of me makes it me feel like the session is more real. I don't know when I have
like a timer on my computer or on my phone or something like that, it's just not as cool,
it's not really cool, but it's not as kind of imposing as having this real red timer
in front of me that says, listen you have 10 minutes
go, don't break it. Cuz real thing is there. Big brother is watching. Importantly, also this removes another potential for distraction. If you have the timer on
your computer or your phone, you might more likely look at that and then get distracted or
pulled into something else, even if the only thing you
do is make studying nicer, it's a small price to pay
for making, studying nicer especially when you're studying maybe five to 10 hours a day. (smooth jazz music) The next tip is remove
all possible distractions. Eliminate the possibility of being distracted during
your Pomodoro sessions. Please remove all unnecessary
items from your desk, all books that you're not using, all notes that you're not gonna be using, your phone especially,
all snacks, everything. Get it out of there. My phone is always on
silent in another room. Next, if you are working on your computer remove distractions from your computer but how do you do this? Now I get crazy here, and
I actually have a computer that's dedicated to just studying. I only do studying on that computer. I haven't logged into apple ID,
so I don't have my messages, I don't have my Gmail, I
don't have any of those things on that computer. That computer is only
for studying flashcards, doing practice questions,
reading academic journals, or reading up on patient's histories. One great app you can use is
the app called SelfControl and this will actually
eliminate your ability to access certain internet websites. (smooth jazz music) The next tip and this
is my most important tip of the entire video on how
to get the most benefit from the Pomodoro Method is
to use classical conditioning. You are not allowed to not focus during your Pomodoro session. You're not allowed to not focus. In fact, all the kind of
other things I'm talking about in this video are all
related to this thing of not losing focus during
our Pomodoro sessions. My separate computer I
have just for studying is just for studying. It classically conditions me to only study on that computer. When I'm using that computer,
that studying computer, I know I'm only studying from it. If you don't know what
classical conditioning means it means you associate one
stimulus with another stimulus. Well, what is a stimulus? It could be anything. It could be the sound. It
could be a flash of a light. It's really anything
that your body picks up. So if, for example, every
time I said your name I hit you with a stick, eventually you would begin to
associate me saying your name with being hit with a stick. Don't worry, I'm not gonna
hit you with a stick. So every time I say your
name, you would think, "oh my God, I'm gonna
get hit with a stick." And eventually me just saying your name would cause you to flinch or freak out because you're used to
being hit with a stick. This is how my special
study computer works. This is how the Pomodoro Method works. My study computer works because when I'm using this
computer, I only am studying. So I'm signaled almost unconsciously, when I open this
computer, it's study time. When you're in your Pomodoro sessions, you're signaled unconsciously,
if you do it enough, that this is study time. Again, this is the most vital
tip of this entire video. If it is study time, if you
are in a Pomodoro session, you must stay focused. Oh, and this applies to your breaks too. When it's break time, go take a break. Don't study during your break time, cuz that would mess things up. Again, if you're gonna study
through your break time make it another Pomodoro session. That way you're extending your flow and not messing with
classical conditioning. (smooth jazz music) Okay, three more tips here. And the third to last tip is music. Use it correctly for you. Music is a tough topic around studying. There's no strong answers. There's no strong decision
whether music helps or harms you. In fact, it seems to show more often that music harms studying. In some studies it's detrimental, in some studies is beneficial. It's kind of flippy floppy. It seems that quiet music with
no lyrics might be beneficial for focusing on easy tasks. But it seems also that
all music is detrimental when focusing on a harder task. The most recent scholarly article
I saw from this is in 2021 and it reviewed the current evidence and also did a couple
experiments of its own. And it found similar to what I just said. Instrumental and calm music has
the least detrimental effect on cognitive performance but all music has a detriment to cognitive performance. Background music can
improve focus and attention when performing easier tasks
and the more difficult the task the less intrusive the music people tend to listen to while studying. For example, if the material
is very challenging, most people don't put on music. So here's the strategy I
use for when I'm using music and studying and again, there's no real significant evidence for this, I just tried to kind of use
a little bit of the evidence and a little bit of personal experience and friends that are
smart and do really well and kind of format my strategy. So at the beginning, when
I first started studying or whenever I'm doing a
really challenging task, I don't listen to music. When I feel myself, start to
lose a little bit of focus and not really focus and
pay attention as well to my studying, I add
very non-intrusive music. So this is music that's called
often like ambient music or like low intensity classical music. Then when the lower intensity music isn't cutting it anymore, I
up the intensity of the music to kind of keep me more
motivated and more focused. I've actually hand tailored
a couple playlists, which I'll list in the link down below, which are like level one,
level two, level three level four, level five. Level one is ambient music,
level two is classical music, level three is epic, like movie
tracks and stuff like that. Level four is lo-fi beats, and level five is like just intense like
techno electronic kind of music. (smooth jazz music) The second to last tip to get the most outta your Pomodoro Methods
is to take better breaks. I'll link a video somewhere around here about what the best breaks are and why they are the best breaks
during your study sessions. But briefly, taking better
breaks will help you learn better and they so help you maintain
physical and mental wellbeing. So here are my favorite breaks from most favorite to least favorite. Number one is go outside,
number two is exercise, number three is change position, number four is grab a healthy snack, number five is meditate,
number six is clean up, number seven is play with a pet, number eight is play an instrument, number nine is talk to
a friend or relative, number 10 is stare out the window, number 11 is have a short nap, and number 12 is watch a YouTube video. And if you watch my other video, I'll tell you why I kind
of ranked these breaks the way I did. (smooth jazz music) Finally, our final tip is
to gamify your studying. Gamify the Pomodoro Method. Evidence shows sufficiently
that gamifying things increase performance. My favorite app is the
Forest timer on my iPhone and what I do, is I hit the start button, throw my phone into another
room and this does two things. The forest timer, first of
all, is incentivizing me to go through my entire study session because if I go through
the entire study session, I get a nice little tree. And also it's preventing me from being distracted by my phone because if I go anywhere else on my phone, the Forest app is designed as such, that if you go away from
the app on your phone, the tree dies. I don't want my tree to die. I also use the Focus Plus timer app on my computer for a while. But again, my favorite
timer is the physical timer and then I combine it with
the Forest timer on my phone so I can get the benefit of
seeing my little forest grow All in all the Pomodoro Method is an extremely powerful studying tool, but just like any tool it can be used correctly or incorrectly. If you use the Pomodoro Method correctly, your studying and test
performance will improve. I promise. But if you made
it to the end of this video, thank you so much for watching and I will see you on the next one.
