I do the Desert method. As in I keep crying as I study until my tears dry up. Very effective for long study sessions. Warning: eyes will severely burn the next day.
I started a study session back in 2010, and during the break I decided to see how long it takes to get my energy up. We’re now in 2021 and I still haven’t left the break. Maybe five more years.
This is such a breakthrough. Absolute genius. I always found myself skipping the breaks because they always felt undeserving with the amount of times I got distracted during the focus session. This could definitely work for me!
Yes! Forest just release the stopwatch mode and it has increase my productivity so much! You just have to do 10 min and then you can stop whenever and I’ve had 2 hours fly by without even realizing it. 💕
@@Kevin-eb6dw it's an app that you can use to track your studying :-) basically you set a timer, and if you stop studying halfway through, your tree will die?
I unintentionally was doing this when the forest app added the stop watch feature, I started to study way more because I felt unrestricted by a time limit
This is what I have been doing!!!! Trust your gut feeling and try to get the most done and study for a longer time, and take longer more meaningful breaks.
That's what I did when first heard about pomodoro. 25 minutes is too short, while, let's say, 1 hour session is too much. Just measured my attention span and realised 35-40 minutes works just perfectly fine
i actually never thougt about this! i personally have MDD (major depressive disorder) that greatly affects my motivation, productivity, and energy within a given time. so currently, im actually in a depressive episode and nothing, literaly nothing is appealing to me yet i still want to get some personal studying done for something i like. i guess i forgot that every person is different and in this way, even if its 10-20 minutes of studying, im still getting something done. thanks for this video!
This is really great advice! I think you're the 1st to officially name it so.... yeah, you get credit 😛 My main takeaway (& something I did the 1st year of my phd) is to track how long it takes me to get things done so I can be realistic in my expectations & know which tasks to do what time of day
The 50/10 works for me, but I’ll be trying the reverse promodoro for some tasks. Thanks a lot guys this was very helpful. Sometimes I’m busy in the lab babying experiments, or doing research, or actually studying for exams etc., so it makes sense not to be rigid all the time. This video was well timed because my new semester begins tomorrow.
Might be a good thing to search ways to help that or even seek help! I ended up discovering I have ADHD (because eventually I decided to seek professional help besides using techniques to stay focused). Not saying that you might have it, but possibilities are kinda infinite.
@@BBaaaaa You know what? I used to have a focus time of nearly 59min. But recently I noticed that I'm not even sticking to 5min. And I can't even give a proper sitting of 3 hours (That's mandatory to practice because of exam duration). I walk off my table in every 20min. I'm scared. This is not me. I wasn't this bad.
@@michi-th2kn well because we all are at house and not outside maybe thats why our attention span is getting more lower...? but you can always try to build your attention span to the way it was before by practise
@@michi-th2kn wait why is this exactly what im going through rn😭 I used to be able to study for like 3 hours straight in 10th grade but now I can hardly sit for 15 minutes. Which sucks cause I have a really important entrance exam to give in a few months
Man thie method is so cool, i tested myself and i could go over an hour just like that, the thing that has helped me is keep an account of the time without getting fatigued, pomodoro used to drain my energy too much
I'm coming back to this video after two months with an update! I started using this method and it has really allowed me to learn more about my own energy levels and studying habits. After a few weeks of timing how long I could focus on different tasks at different times of the day, I have loads of data (that I find really interesting!). It has allowed me to build much more effective study sessions that are based on data about what I know I can do rather than aspirations of what I might get done. Thank you so much for sharing!
This video was really helpful, and I feel that i am done messing around and really want to set myself up for a good schedule. I want to be able to reflect on my daily routines to make it much better.
I've tried this method and it was how I originally did it. I found I was more likely to forget the time and lose focus as I didn't have the pressure of the timer going down and going off. It was more productive than not using one, but I prefer the timer going down. You don't have to go by the time someone else sets either. You may find a 15 or 20 minute works better than a 25-30 minute. The key is to have enough time to actually do something while being short enough that you will actually commit to it. Best to experiment and find what works for you. Thanks again!
This is really great🔥...for me i procastinate a lot and most of the times i 'm not able to follow these rigid timeframes...so these personalised reverse pomodoro seems like a good way to focus more..thanku guys 🙏u guys are doing grt
This actually helped SO MUCH. I've slowly started taking notes on how many minutes I can stay focused without having a single wandering thought or getting distracted on social media (I'm on discord a lot) and my numbers are slightly different from the pomodoro technique but still different overall. The timer counting up also helps a lot as I use forest so I can easily adjust to a stopwatch. Thank you guys again!!
The thing is that I was thinking about this and youtube recommended this video to me and now I'm scared, the algorithm is becoming telepathic, man! Lol
if my body didnt need to use the bathroom or need any food, i could legit go 24/7 without needing to stop. Ive gone 5-8 hours of staight studying and couldve gone longer just had nothing to do. When I try the Pomodoro, I tend to get restless when Im not doing my work and usually would just cut my break to like 2-5 min. I would even sometimes get more distracted after those breaks. I think im just sick in the brain, prolly a study masochist.
Good blood sugar levels makes a massive difference in concentration. I discovered while using a glucose monitor as an experiment that when my focus goes down so has my blood sugar levels. Eating bad foods can cause a crash an hour later. High protein and low carbs before and during study helps keep that focus.
You know I was thinking about this today, surely it isn't set from person to person but can fluctuate throughout the day (e.g. some people make need a longer break in the afternoon than they would in the morning)
Yes but if you study for 50 min at a stretch and you still don't feel like studying again u might want to increase break or you could decrease your study with same break time
That is genius guys! Yall should make a study on that and try to publish - pretty sure is a more robust method than just the standard Pomodoro timming.
Parkson's law kind of negates your point, studying with frequent breaks can be INEFFICIENT since it will take a longer time than the allocated, but studying with smaller less frequent breaks will make you save more time of the day and have the rest of it as a break, you may say that this won't be effective regarding your attention, but if that's something you struggle with in the first place then you should start small and increase the amount of time gradually. This method can be effective if it doesn't affect your flow or make you feel like your studying the whole day.
Thank you so much the Reverse Pomodoro method will so work for someone like me. I have adhd and I think it's brilliant to find the sweet spot on different study task .... such as coding I can codeo for hours but other things no so much. Great tip.
I have been doing this for the past 2years and sometimes i even end upstreatching my attention span for like 2.5hrs.I started this because of the korean study system. For me having a physical timer works the best instead of using a timer on my phone.
Ari, I had a question. What's your schedule around active recall and spaced repetition? I study from notes and I feel its not quite efficient and have heard so much about active recall and spaced repetition. I want to know more.
@@AriHoresh actually, I tried it and I found out that I can focus for about 18-20 minutes and would need a break then for 10 mins or so......it works for me .
Many others have come to the same conclusion including Justin Sung six months ago. This is similar to what athletes and military do during any training session to improve endurance. You start out running a few yards over a period of time. You set goals and stretch goals to go further and further. I practice holding my breath underwater and I only could do it for 20 seconds. Each time I had a second and soon I'm doing it for a minute than two. It's the same principle here. I agree the Pomodoro isn't for everyone.
When a deadline is coming soon, i can study for 15 hours straight without any breaks Also when it’s interesting i dont need motivation or timer or something else: i just study Sooo you dont need any type of method or timer to study, you should find something that is yours and just enjoy it:)) Because when i use pomodoro , I’m always not tired when the bell hits, even if its 50/10 or 90/20
@@nfhope8 im studying architecture in russia. It all started at school, because its very difficult to enter my university, the exams last for 6 hours each, you have to draw very very good, so your training is 6-8 hours with a private teacher. And then during the 5 years of bachelor you develop your ability to study from 10 to 15 hours and not to sleep 2 days. Of course not everyday, only one time a month or two. If i know, that tomorrow is very important deadline, i can spend 15 hours in front of my laptop and draft....It harms health, my eyes suffer. My only advice is not to study long, study less, but effective. Everyday 1,5 hour is better than 10 hours straight)
@@AriHoresh yeah of course, after deadline i sleep for 20 hours 👌 I must say that studying architecture is little bit different from typical study I mean, we are creating stuff + making it understandable for others (with drawings, so its mechanical) These two tasks require different skills and sides of the brain. It’s easier to do it for long periods of time
Thank you Ari and Shalev! This is genious! I use pomodoro but sometimes it interrupts my study flow. I'm very ambitious and an overachiever, so it would really motivate me to see the timer go up instead of down!
I set it for 1 hour , total of 15 study sessions in a day , I have reached max. of 10 hours ! hoping for more in future , it helps in long run although it might sound okay/ average for a month or two
Guys... this is one of the most informative videos about studying I've ever seen on RU-vid. Full of new ideas. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Keep it up!
to be honest, I had to train myself for pomodoro to work, it used to not work for me at all but I find it quite effective now. It did take me quite a while though
