Blast Away the Block with Backcountry (Part III):

Strategies for Conquering Writer’s Block and Crafting Extraordinary Essays

By Margaret M. Kelly — Expedition Leader

3 - Timing is Everything: Pop a Pomodoro.

Timing is crucial to our process at Backcountry. There’s still a lawyer in me and I believe well-boundaried structure is essential to any successful academic or admissions expedition.

The premise, here, diverges from the premise of the 360-blast-offs, though, which is to just let it all spill out. The Pomodoro method is, in fact, more about structure than content, it can be layered over any of the tactics above, and it’s an attention elixir to remedy procrastination, attention-deficits, and wandering minds worldwide.

The concept is simple: set for yourself a small task (like, finish a few back-to-back blast-offs; or update your resume; or try a magical mind-map). Then set your timer for 25 minutes. And begin. Consider the Pomodoro (or whatever you choose to name your timer…Galileo, Greg) an indivisible unit of time that cannot be broken.

Not for checking texts, or emails, or surfing Tik-Tok, or falling down Wikipedia rabbit holes, or decluttering your desk, or drifting-off to moody singer/song-writers, or any one of a thousand and one other things our minds can come up with when they’re avoiding putting words on the page. Block it all out to beat the block. Anything (almost) can wait 25 minutes.

Find a quiet room in your house, or a quiet corner of a café, or a quiet nook in the library (note the key word, here); make sure you have a clean work-surface, if possible; don your headphones, if necessary; start your timer; and consider the next 25 minutes a sanctuary from the rest of the world—a time where all that matters is you, your pen, and your page (or your keys/screen, though we prize pen & paper forward solutions at Backcountry).

In our experience, blocking off multiple hours for essay drafting (or application crafting) can increase atmospheric pressure to barely bearable. But when you’re settled that all you need to do is generate sentences, or outlines, or lists, or mind-maps (or any number of application tasks) for 25 minutes and 25 minutes alone, a delightful pressure-release ensues. And you find yourself making progress—real progress—toward your desired end. Once you start linking together Pomodoros—with genuine, refreshing breaks in between—the sky’s the limit when it comes to productivity.

As touched on above, Pomodoro’s can be exceptionally useful for focused essay-crafting, and can also be called on for many other aspects of the application process.

The application process is packed, in fact, with discrete tasks that lend themselves to execution via Pomodoro. From building your activities list, to creating and refining your resume, to filling out all the paperwork, to requesting recommendations—and, if you’re an athlete, reaching out to coaches—there are all kinds individual projects that can be knocked-out with well-applied Pomodoros (and bespoke, Backcountry Support if you need it!)

*

So concludes our three-part series on how to blast away writer’s block. We hope you’re feeling newly-empowered to navigate the terrain of writer’s block on the way to your admissions summits!

TL; DR? Recap:

Anyone who has ever put pen to page has experienced the indignity that is writer’s block. Writing is hard. Writing admissions essays is harder. Especially when you’re asked to write promo material for yourself. But there are ways to knock-out the block. 1) Try shifting your angle—the goal here isn’t to self-congratulate, it’s to self-reveal. 2) Try writing for 360 seconds without lifting pen from page. 3) Or, if the prospect of complete sentences is too daunting, try crafting lovely, little lists. 4) If listing isn’t working for you—or even if it is—you might also try free-associative mind-mapping to kick-off a sensational, free-thinking essay. 5) Each of these strategies can be pursued via Pomodoro—a 25-minute, distraction-free writing period—as can many other aspects of your application. The upshot is, if your goal is to blast-away writer’s block, whether you elect to call on these 5 strategies individually or in combo, rest assured their power is explosive.