The panic monster is having a full-on party in my head right now. I have a hundred thousand errands to run, and I don’t know where to start.
What do I do?
I finally open my abandoned laptop to listen to all those smart fellas who are never low on advice. And this time they introduce me to Pomodoro.
Which is what I munch on for the next few hours. But wait what, my task list is still the same? But why? :(
Barely emerging from the realization that there isn’t a single trick for me to miraculously get out of this situation, I halfheartedly gave science another chance. This time I used the Eisenhower Matrix to sort my tasks. ̶(̶Y̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶h̶i̶f̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶e̶n̶s̶e̶,̶ ̶n̶o̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶i̶d̶e̶a̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶r̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶v̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶ r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶n̶o̶w̶).
And apparently, I did not have a hundred thousand tasks to run.
I just had about 2 novels, 2 dramas, and 6 poems to read.
Whoever told me to get enrolled in a Literature degree, should pray to God that they never see me again.
Because I too once loved to read. And then I got enrolled in this program. And then every bit of that love trickled out of me while having to speed-read. I usually use my sense of urgency to get things done with my readings around this time, but this semester our instructors decided to be a little too efficient for some reason and took up our prep week to add to our syllabus. That’s always a treat, isn’t it?
But now that my fair buds at Amal were convincing me that listening to that Taylor Swift album was not a priority (I still think they’re wrong), I had to put my phone aside and pick up a book.
Knowing how my brain works, I knew 5 minutes breaks weren’t made for me. I still can’t think how they can work for anyone. So, I adjusted the Podomoro (this time, the app) to a 1:30/30 dynamic to accommodate my monkey brain. And that did the trick.
The thing that I couldn’t get myself to do in about a fortnight, I had achieved in two Pomodoro sessions. And I could not be happier. I felt a genuine sense of relief, as I put that book down. 75% of it may have to do with how good it was. (Bernard Shaw and his epic endings, anyone?)
The next book I picked up, (after a really long break where I had to run to every person in the house to tell them about the previous book) was not an easy read. So, instead of putting my panic-stricken brain through the torture, I fired up an audiobook instead. (Don’t judge me, it’s the same thing, perhaps better. Ohmygod, it’s a jugaad).
I have listened to almost 2 hrs of it, and even though my progress is still minimal, I cannot go on with it any longer today. (And that’s on having smol brains!)
All in all, I’d call this experiment a success. I have completed only two tasks so far. But it would be unfair to not give me the credit for them today. ̶N̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶ ̶b̶r̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶ ̶c̶e̶l̶l̶s̶-̶
Eisenhower Matrix really saved me some overwhelmed minutes. Pomodoro helped me get started with what I needed to do. I ate some big frogs today, and all of it actually felt quite rewarding too.
Why would I not try again?
