I just survived Week 2 of the Merit America Data Analytics Cohort. I'm slowly learning the basics and theory of data analytics, from staying curious to how you can gather and find data to asking many questions that need answers. In addition, we get to present them in a clear, compelling presentation through visualizations too. The visualizations and learning formulas and functions on spreadsheets, and a little bit of SQL have always been the fun parts for me. But at the same time, staying curious became a lot more fun than I thought.

Since this is an accelerated program, much like a bootcamp, the time crunching and the unexpected happenings during your free time are always a struggle. But the excellent bit about this program is that help and assistance from your career coach, advisors, tech support, and volunteers are always available daily. In addition, because of my hobbies and fandoms, I get distracted a lot. For example, while I'm watching one of the course videos, I see some notifications on TwitterXYZ about a new release by my favorite vtubers. My mind suddenly tends to check out that notification instead of ignoring it and continuing.

How can I keep focus? I have one answer: Pomodoro clocks.

Why Pomodoro clocks?

I'm sure many have already talked or blogged about Pomodoro clocks. It's a type of clock in which you focus on your work in increments of 25-30 minutes with 5-minute breaks. You can use a timer, whether a manual one or a timer in your smartphone, to make your own Pomodoro clocks. But as for me, I'm using a free, cute, and fun app called Focus Plant. You can also download from the app store too.

Plenty of really cute Pomodoro clock apps are around, but I particularly like Focus Plant because there is also a game integrated with it. You earn water from using the Pomodoro clock, and you can use that water to create a lot of unique plants and maintain your little garden. You get some perks and prizes when you do specific actions, like watching ad videos (free version) or purchasing the perks using the sunlight you earned from using the Pomodoro clocks too. Having these small goals makes you use the Pomodoro clock even more, which motivates you in your online studies too.

I've only gone through the program for two weeks, and thanks to my 3-day weekends, I could complete each assignment without much hassling through time at the last minute. Anything can disrupt my studies, mainly tech issues and such, and this is where I reach out to my career coach and tech support to let them know of my technical issues. But deadlines are strict. All assignments are due every Monday at 6:00 p.m. in our time zone.

I recommend using a Pomodoro clock for your work and studies. Maybe just a standard timer may not be for you. Check out those cute Pomodoro clock apps like Focus Plant when you can.

This is a short entry, but Pomodoro clocks can give you wonders when doing your work or studying, especially if you are working or learning from home. Focus Plant also has nice, meditating music that accompanies the clock and is soothing at the same time.

Next time, maybe I can blog about the core concepts I've learned about data analytics. Maybe.