E2: A Smarter Way to Work (BETTER than Pomodoro)

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If Pomodoro technique is level 1, this is level 5. Use this dynamic and flexible work-timer technique to deepen your concentration and improve your efficiency.

Today, we say goodbye to the old technica pomodoro.

Your comments fuel me! Please leave comments, suggestions and questions freely below. I'd love to discuss anything I talked about in more depth with you!

If you enjoyed what I had to give or found it valuable, a subscribe would be sincerely appreciated.
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Justin Sung is an ex-junior doctor who is passionate about creating efficient and meaningful change. He believes that a culture of spoon-feeding and tutoring is a societal issue and that most people are not making good career decisions - especially around medicine. He runs two social enterprises in New Zealand: JTT, which advises and supports students around medical entry, and Finding Gravity, which empowers students to take control of their learning, gain confidence around academia and study more efficiently.
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[ElVicioMan]

Nice video Justin! Very informative. Here's a summary:

1. Set your hard limit (if you got little time don't bother; if you have a long time: break that down into shorter term goals).
2. Set a timer and do the activity.
3. When you feel your focus decrease, stop the timer. Look at how long you've been focused for and divide that number by 3 or 4 and use that time for relaxation.
4. Think: Do I need to focus after this or not? If you don't need to, then just do whatever. If you DO need to focus, use that time productively. Then, ask yourself: Am I tired or not? If you're tired, do active relaxation like meditation. If you're not tired, you can use your time to do little tasks that take no effort but keep you in that flow state, or just doing different levels of thinking or casual mind-mapping.
5. After the break, if you want to continue, you will probably be focussing for less time, and that's okay. If you time your focus, then the break will be optimal for each session because it will depend on how long you've focused for (the dividing exercise).

[vitalis]

I've seen a couple of videos now and this channel is totally underrated. I like the high level thinking, the thinking frameworks and execution strategies.

[POW]

Protocol: start study session and timer, take break when you notice your focus starting to diminish. Divide time spent in first study session by 3 or 4. Rest for that amount of time. If you have lots of energy still, engage in a chore or higher level thinking. If not, engage in ‘active’ rest like meditation

[bestboy]

i can focus for 10 sec. adn then i need 30 weeks rest time. great.

[tullochgorum]

The single best YouTube presentation on focus. Like SRS, Pomodoro is a trendy technique that people adopt uncritically. But the rigid time limit makes no sense. It's based on studies of the average time for optimal focus, but the optimum for any given study session is going to vary widely depending on the person, their state of mind, the task, the time of day and many other variables...

When I was using it, the bell would often interrupt a very productive flow. At other times, if I was tired and working with challenging material, I'd run out of steam before the 25 mins was up and be marking time somewhat unproductively till the pomodoro completed.

A more flexible approach makes much more sense!

[SrZolaf]

Something that I find helps in addition to this technique is what I like to call the "intrusive thoughts list". When I'm trying to focus and a thought comes in like "I should google this" or " I should ask this person about that" I type all those things into a different file, that way I get them out of my mind quickly, and I know they are there when I need to check them and tick them off

[rezamostafid]

I've been mucking around with lack of focus, inefficiency e.t.c. for 4-5 years now. I always kept thinking "Why doesn't this work?"...often time the timer goes off just as I entered flow at other times ( mostly later in the day ) I feel like "...when is this session going to got to be a better you for spilling out the details so nicely...this is what I've been looking for. I shall definitely give it a try. Many Thanks Dr. Sung!!!

[joycesegers]

Love the rant about meditation... ha ha 🤣 "you need to grow up...do some research" I was one of those people who thought I couldn't meditate, but once I dove in and gave it my all it has been my life saving go to for my breaks. I love walking meditations and also nap meditations. I love insight timer; however, I am still not the best at just using a timer and sitting in quiet meditation...that is a practice in and of itself for sure. Thanks for this video Justin, so helpful! 🙏🏽🙇🏽‍♀

[farrashafizh]

I've been slacking lately since I can't maintain my focus and can't set clear objectives in my learning session. This video completely empowers me to push myself and increase my focus length. You also remind me to set clear objective in each study session and to be mindful in our break. How lucky I am to be exposed at such high quality content for Free. You're a life saver. Thank you for existing. Hope you could make this kind of video again, sir! ❤

[triciaroy]

Glad I found this, wish I found it 25 years ago! I might share with my students this semester.
Personally, I never learned how to study outside of class. When I went to school, we were supposed to take notes (which were checked by the teacher), and do other assignments as assigned to be turned in within a set period of time. There was always time pressure. I think one of the most foolish “accommodations” we have made in education was to remove much of the time pressure within the day. Obviously, people with clinical anxiety need to be accommodated, but the model has been to give everyone the extra time, which just reduces incentive to work efficiently in non-anxious people.
In my own experience as an adult who was never diagnosed with add/adhd because I was a well-behaved, “good” student, I was great at doing things during class time; I learned the material and made very high marks. But homework was so much less structured. I would have energy for subjects I liked, but math? Forget it. I felt done right away, but the only method was to plod on, sometimes in 😭. I was instructed to do the subjects or tasks I felt were hard or boring first, which makes some sense, but without the awareness of breaks. This means that as an adult, I simply burn out way before I allow myself to do the creative, personally meaningful practices that don’t immediately “pay the bills” (but could if I was more productive). I think this has enormous negative implications for society because it reinforces the false notion that some activities or subjects are more important because they are hard or boring and should therefore take up more of our collective time. This is bs. The most productive time in my life was in grad school; I only studied the subjects I wanted, spent my time reading and writing about those subjects, took breaks in nature or the gym, and I had lots of energy because I was getting a lot of exercise. In all the education coursework and PD I’ve done we never, ever learned about how to structure our OWN time and energy, and teachers and students have paid the cost. I could say a lot more, and I’m sorry to have written so much, but I wanted to let you know that you’ve given me a lot to think about. Man, I need a break! 😸

[tuusuariomp]

Loving this, I love how you structure this. Especially how detailed you go into resting, nobody else does that. I love the dynamic system going on, definitely will use that principle behind not only that but everything else. Gold!

[ankurdas]

Your technique works wonders! Even with my health issues, I am able to make use of it comfortably.

[StuckonStrings]

I love your videos. They're helping me get back into my thesis writing that got derailed due to two traumatic events at the same time, then Covid, then a health crisis over the past year: hypothyroidism due to Hashimoto's that I didn't even know I had until it was too late and my thyroid is now fried, so using a gentler approach is helping me accept my evolved self (I used to be able to produce work insanely quickly and efficiently, but I no longer have the focus and energy like I did pre-hypothyroidism). Your approach to varying the Pomodoro technique has helped me feel validated in how I'd like to approach the technique with more flexibility. Of course, at the end of the day, it's my dog who chooses when I work and take a break lol. Many thanks again. I have subscribed and like all of your vids I've watched so far :)

[vedantlalit]

tbh, I think that the people who would benefit the most with this method are already extremely productive, It takes a lot of self control to return to working after taking the break. giving that much flexibility to yourself if you lack self discipline can just end up with the whole day being wasted.

[mercymwende]

I love how your techniques are super brain friendly. I'm new to your channel and have recently been using them.Already noticing results!Thankyou for your videos!

[opopopop]

I bought THE LEGEND OF POMODORO on Steam, and it's really making a superb change in my life as I am using it to gamify my day. Pretty much the best thing I have ever gotten from Steam Games!

[acea]

This is incredible! I will try it for when I have the luxury to take breaks whenever I want. And for those times I can't, I will still try to fix those.

[ExtraRice]

Glad you started a podcast. I'm on the road a lot for work so it's good to know I can listen without using as much phone data

[Klauskunze]

Holy shit. Thank you Youtube algorithm for giving me your channel as a recommendation. Your tips are INCREDIBLY useful

[tn]

I have been binging Justin's videos for the past 3 hours - and I consider it time well spent!

Thanks Justin! (^-^)