As this is my first post here I will try to keep it as short as possible and hopefully some will find value in it :) So let‘s jump right in!
Firstly, I just have to mention that coming from a artistic inclined family I too have the eager to create and build awesome stuff I see and use in my day to day life. But ever since I was a kid I had this thing where I get very excited and curious about a certain thing and want to explore it further, how it works, what else can it do. And then, all of the sudden, without any notice or warning, all that enthusiasm just disappears. Puff. GONE! What happened?!….. Ahh I guess I wasn’t interested in it enough. I mean if I was I’d be constantly in a zone, riding with unicorns of productivity, right? Ok… off to the next one I guess. And on and on it went. Started thinking about my life, my passions, desperately trying to figure out what the heck am I on this Earth for.
In the meantime I developed fondness for programming. I saw it as a form of sculpting a masterpiece. You start from a block, an basic idea, a starting premise and then simply go from there. So I went into android development. The problem? You can probably guess it by now, couldn’t even finish one course! Not even one! Tried books, same results, tried different contributors, to no avail! I started to see a pattern. Maybe I am looking in all the wrong places. Simon Sinek said, it’s a Millennials thing. Short attention spans, accepting nothing less than a dream job(if there is such a thing), trying to find one’s passion in order to commit and eventually be happy. YESS!! That's it! Found something to blame, I am a Millenial! (one minute relief pause). But.. what can I do about it? I don’t want to be hopping from one thing to another for the rest of my life. So I decided that before I could do anything I should firstly test these claims. If my real problem was not lack of interest/passion but pure laziness aka short attention spans, I needed some method to keep me engaged and prolong my focus for a long term. Enter ‘Pomodoro technique’.
“The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. These intervals are named pomodoros.”
So I have my measuring stick! Now let’s get something to measure. As I still felt I had some feelings for programming I decided to give it another go. And for a project, how about the Pomodoro app itself? Simply to complete the circle. Got all I needed, challenge has been set, me vs myself, round 9190921039210!
Stopwatch:Start! Hmm, where the heck should I start? Courses and books are a no-go as they failed me times before so the only option I had was, well, to simply start doing the actual work(as recommended by youtuber John Sonmez from SimpleProgrammer.com, not an ad I just love that guy :D). I already had Android Studio installed. First step was to create a welcoming screen. So I went to programming Mecca, StackOverflow, and simply retyped the code. Easy enough! Next, a button. Then after you clicked it, it would be nice for it to transfer you to the second screen! And on and on I went. By the time I stood up from my chair it was already dark outside. Holy s**t! This might actually work! John, if I could subscribe twice, I would :D
For the next 30 days, I’ve been pushing myself further and further, started giving access to my app to some of my friends for the sole purpose of a constructive feedback. Also I knew I just wanted to make a statement to myself and build MVP(minimal viable product), but while I was at it why not make it a bit easier on the eyes. So I learned another skill for the purpose of this project, Adobe Illustrator. I started googling almost instinctively, thinking about code, enjoying every single part of the process even the frustrating ones(1% inspiration, 99% perspiration sounds about right xd). Regularly putting up 12-14 pomodoro blocks.
At the end of a month I was so tired, warn out, partially as I did not pause rest of my life to do this experiment, BUT boy was I HAPPY! :D
Not only did I find out more about myself but I finally felt the control of my own destiny again. And that, is a nice feeling to have.
Now don’t get me wrong, I know that this won’t be the next big thing, a killer app or anything of that sort, but the biggest thing for me, is what this step represents. That I stopped asking myself what my PURPOSE in life is and instead start asking, what does the WORLD need, and where can I improve, so that I could make it better! Just one millimeter at the time, just one!
Hey I hope you enjoyed this post, and it gave you a bit of inspiration to revisit and excuse to rethink your own ‘passions’, or the lack of. Follow me for more good things to come ;)
NOTE: For all who would like to see the app or even better use it and do their own experiments, here is the link to it: www.dronerace.tech/donate (pardon the hyperlink, I had to improvise as I didn’t yet get my Google Play account). It is completely free to use and ad free, as if only one person finds it useful to finally break the vicious cycle as I did all of this would had been definitely worth it! Donations gracefully accepted! Cheers!