Procrastination is something that affects every individual at some point in their life, whether it be professionally, academically or personally.
It’s often easy to delay or postpone an action rather than tackling it head-on and we’re all guilty of finding excuses to put off doing something, even if it’s not a task we explicitly hate – there’s a lazy streak in us all.
Throughout my Accounting Exam Accelerator Programme I cover a diverse range of topics that will aid your progression on your accountancy journey, including providing a mix of study tips to ensure you are succeeding in all aspects of your revision, not just nailing the content.
My article How To Stop Procrastinating Whilst Studying For Your Accountancy Exams covers a range of ways in which you can regain the motivation to continue studying and addresses the root cause of why we put things off, making it a great read before you learn more about what the Pomodoro Technique involves.
One of the most effective methods that is proven to reduce procrastination and increase productivity is the Pomodoro Technique, whereby you are granted brief intervals as a form of reward after completing a timed-section of work.
What Is The Pomodoro Technique?
Named after its Italian inventor used a tomato timer to keep himself on track when studying, with Pomodoro meaning tomato in his mother tongue.
Most commonly used in a 5:1 work to break ratio, typically designated as 25 minutes of working time with a 5 minute interval away from your studies before repeating the process until your task is finished or you have reached the end of your designated revision session.
Time management is essential when carrying out any task, but when you have an excessive amount of material and a finite amount of time you need to have a plan and ensure you stick to it, something the Pomodoro Technique can crucially help you to achieve.
The trick is to not interrupt the 25 minute blocks and avoid all distractions whilst you’re at your peak performance and have been working away for an intensive study session.
Rather than going on your phone and checking every time a notification comes in (or in some cases just checking as an excuse to not work), set your devices to ‘do not disturb’ and only check on them during the allotted break time to give yourself the best chance of being productive and staying on track.
Why Does It Work?
In order to assess the ways in which the Pomodoro Technique works, it’s important to note what the framework is behind how we become and stay motivated.
Piers Steel’s Temporal Motivation Theory splits what we expect to gain from a task from the reasoning behind delaying it and creates a formula to identify how this all relates to motivation.
Despite the seemingly complicated nature of procrastination, it all boils down to motivation and this theory helpfully gives us a look at why we might not be motivated and therefore end up opting to procrastinate instead of work.
𝑀𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = Expectancy x ValueImpulsiveness x Delay
[Steel Ph.D., Piers; The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done. HarperCollins, 2010.]
The expectancy included in Steel’s model relates to how successful we feel when completing a task or how we expect to feel when planning ahead to completion.
The value refers to what we expect to achieve as a result of the task, essentially meaning how highly we value and prioritise a task based on the productiveness of the outcome.
Both impulsiveness and delay are very much entwined, with delay meaning the amount of time available before a task is due whereas impulsiveness is related to the threshold, asking us how willing we are to put something off until a later date.
There are overriding factors in every task and there are reasons why some tasks are easier to cause procrastination while others just seem to get done.
Everyone is different in their approach and certain things we need to consider can include:
- The degree of difficulty for the task (Low expectancy)
- The lack of interest or boring nature of the task (Low Value)
- The time frame in which the task needs to be completed (High delay)
- Your level of self-control and ability to ignore distractions (High impulsiveness)
All of this could lead to very low motivation and a great chance of procrastination, so identifying what the underlying issues are mean they can be effectively eradicated.
What Are The Benefits?
Unfortunately, procrastination is incredibly easy and motivating yourself can be quite the opposite, but the Pomodoro Technique helps to make procrastination more difficult rather than doing the seemingly impossible task of making motivation easier.
It does so in a number of ways, improving your overall outlook and reducing your dread for certain tasks.
1. Builds Better Self-Control
25 minutes can be seen as both short and intense as well as a long period of time depending on the task.
This is why planning the 25 minute periods can be beneficial – it offers a form of organisation and allows you to be more focused without feeling rushed.
2. Shortens Deadlines
Whilst ever you’re using the Pomodoro Technique, your deadline starts at 25 minutes and continues until the task is completed, removing the element of delay for finishing something due in two months.
It isn’t a race though and you shouldn’t allow yourself to watch the timer because that’s procrastination in itself, so stick to a timely work schedule and be concise in your efforts.
3. Interests You
Sometimes the subject matter you have to work through can be dry, dense and boring, making 25 minutes of studying them seem like an eternity.
It might sound cliché but try making a game of the technique or organise your 25 minute blocks so that your most dreaded topics are mixed with more favourable ones so that reaching those is a reward in itself.
4. Alleviates Difficulty Demotivation
Whilst the technique itself might not be able to make things any easier, topics that you find more difficult can demotivate you and this method acts as an all-round motivator to get them done.
We all tend to leave difficult tasks until the very end, but the more challenging a topic, the fresher your mind needs to be, so start with a particularly tough or medium difficulty task to begin with and work your way through until you reach a comfortable level.
How Will It Work For Me?
Although the Pomodoro technique is structured within the 25-minute per block technique, you will need to play with it to find what works for you.
You will have to consider how many Pomodoro’s you need per study session, whether it be one due to a limited availability or ten for a full day of studying, as well as assessing how many Pomodoro’s you can accomplish before being interrupted or eventually growing distracted.
As always, you have to find what works best for you and modify the technique to suit your individual needs rather than following the general guidelines if they aren’t leaving you with an efficient study plan or outcome.
One way you can directly relate the Pomodoro Technique to accounting is by using it when you first begin taking on past or mock papers – use it initially if you find them overwhelmingly difficult but aim to reduce your reliance on the method and properly test yourself in timed conditions later down the line so that you are fully prepped for your exam.