Although there’s usually an important meeting at the start of every week, today I finally resisted using my personal time to handle work-related tasks.

The key is probably to prepare by the last workday before the weekend—writing both the daily and weekly reports in advance, and carefully thinking through what needs to be said and done during the next week’s meetings. This helps avoid a certain mental burden.

Today, I’d like to briefly talk about the Pomodoro technique. For me, Pomodoro doesn’t work that well. The main reason is that getting into a flow state actually takes a long period of preparation, and once I’m in that state, the priority is to avoid interruptions rather than taking breaks. The duration I can maintain this flow state isn’t fixed; it depends on my physical and mental condition.

I’ve found that for learning, maintaining focus for at least 3 hours is essential. Anything shorter tends to yield limited results. So, this year, I’ve decided to change how I approach things. If I’m unable to sustain long periods of focus, I might as well use that time to deal with miscellaneous tasks (not including work-related tasks). This is what I previously referred to as "creating a buffer."