00:00 There’s a montage playing in my head. It’s a roll of all the moments I’ve ever been this focused. Math competitions back in high school (shoutout to all MTAP kids reading this). A few nights of cramming in the University Dorm back in college—some in Starbucks Katipunan, rare ones in Bo’s Coffee. Bo’s, which turned into a two-story freezer after 9 PM, was open 24 hours, so that was nice. Cold, but nice. There were many long days and nights in law school, of course. The ones from working in marketing at the Vitamin B office had the best views, hands-down. Then there was the last time I wrote here, which was last week. And then there’s yesterday night, from yesterday’s Pomodoro.
00:25 There’s something about waking up to playoff games every morning. The results of these games usually hint at what my mood’s going to be for the rest of the day. Not very healthy, I know.
00:30 A bit of history. In the late 1980s, a man named Francesco Cirillo developed the Pomodoro Technique. It’s a method of working or studying that focuses on spacing little breaks throughout your work session. You start with 25 minutes of focused work, then you follow that with a 5-minute break. That’s one Pomodoro. Then you do another 25 minutes of work, then another 5 minute break. That’s another Pomodoro. Repeat that process until the fourth Pomodoro, after which you take a longer 15-to-30-minute break. And that’s it. It’s called “Pomodoro” because it’s named after the Pomodoro kitchen timer, the ones that look like tomatoes. Thanks, Wikipedia.
00:55 I found this playlist on Spotify called Instrumental Hype. Halfway through it, you don’t just feel like a character in a game trying to finish a quest, you feel like the game itself. It’s so effective, I’m careful not to over-listen to it, if that’s possible.
01:00 Whether you go through these Pomodoros alone, with another person, or as a group, there’s a 40 percent chance that you’ll develop a love-hate relationship with it; 60 percent chance of hating it completely. I’ve come to treat these sessions like gym sessions, but for the mind. Every 25-minute grind is like a really solid set, or more accurately, three straight super-sets. So you can imagine, you’d have to really psych yourself up before each one, because when you’re right in the middle of it, there’s no turning back. It’s just you and the countdown to the next break. And they build up like reps, too. The next one is almost always slightly more difficult than the one before.
01:25 The deeper I get into this, the more precious each break becomes. Some five minutes are longer than others. Scrolling through social media with a 5-minute time limit is—not surprisingly—more than enough. But then again, it never really is, is it?
01:30 Like all things, this is a tool that is not to be abused. There’s a Chinese saying: 物极必反 (wù jí bì fǎn). If you’ve seen the latest version of the Karate Kid, the one with little Jaden Smith, then you’ve probably heard of it. It means, when something is taken to its extremes, it eventually reverses its effect. Even good things, when pushed to their limits, may lead to bad outcomes. I’ve always subscribed to the Mythbusters philosophy, “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing.” But I think it’s safe to say that not everything is a science experiment that involves explosions and the Mythbusters aren’t always right.
01:55 And that’s four. Long rest coming up here. It takes discipline to start, but it also takes discipline to stop, even when you feel like you can do more. It’s like walking up a flight of stairs. We wish to keep climbing, but at some point, we reach the top floor. There’s a right time for everything. And now feels like the right time to regroup, pace around the house for a while. Maybe, it’s also the right time to switch playlists. EDM is another solid choice. But outside the context of work, not for me.
02:15 The more I immerse myself into these uninterrupted zones, the more I gain respect for time. And what is respect for time but respect for life itself. It’s that famous quote, “the way we do anything is the way we do everything.” Of course, our value as human beings does not hinge on what we do with our time; however, much of the material and abstract value the rest of the world receives from our existence does, directly or indirectly. And part of that, is time dedicated to do absolutely nothing. Or time spent to be in the company of others. To a certain degree, my only real wish is to be able to truly, freely choose how all this time is spent.
02:20 As the montage continues, I wonder, how many of these grinds were what I would’ve chosen to do, had I had a real option to choose otherwise? How many of those called for a better respect of my time? All of a sudden, I’m questioning the relevance of even this Pomodoro.
02:25 What does it even mean to give your all? What does it mean to give 100 percent? I think of Jordan’s flu game or Kobe’s final regulation game where he dropped 60 and the game winner. I think: leave it all on the floor. But at the same time, I think: real life isn’t 48 minutes long. Unless you’re a pro, it isn’t played on hardwood floors. In real life, there is only now, and the next moment, and the next moment until we die. Maybe it’s that, maybe it’s an attention thing. Maybe it’s not how much time you give, but how much you give with the time you’re given. I used to think of maximum effort as needing to apply every cell in my body to the current moment, every moment. But then I burnt myself out every time, so I knew there was something off here.
02:50 As I enter and exit these zones of focus and unfocus, it’s become clearer to me that the way forward isn’t to squeeze every possible thing, experience, or thought into every moment. There is no need to. The body and the mind are already here, but the problem is, so is everything else—the past, the future, lingering thoughts, distractions, expectations. They’re all here as well. So instead, we may have to flip the script, so that giving a hundred percent becomes letting go of the extra 800 or 900 percent that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
02:55 There’s this scene from the movie Green Book, where Viggo Mortensen’s character Tony Lip, while driving and eating KFC fried chicken, persuades Mahershala Ali’s character Dr. Don Shirley, who is riding at the back, to eat fried chicken with his bare hands. “It just seems… so unsanitary,” says Dr. Shirley as he meticulously picks at his chicken leg. “Who gives a shit? Just relax and enjoy it,” replies Tony Lip, “You know, my father used to say, whatever you do, do it a hundred percent. When you work, work. When you laugh, laugh. When you eat, eat like it’s your last meal.” Maybe it can be that simple.