We’re reblahgging this from 2013 because this is a cause of failure for so many BSers — and this technique works!

Now that we’ve planted the seed, many of you are beginning to actually think about Round 2. And some of you will actually do more than think about it. Some of you have even gotten started (kinda sorta a little).

Most people haven’t, though.

What prevents many people from ever getting into bschool is that they don’t even manage to submit a single application.

Procrastination can ruin a life.

Or at least, it can prevent you from progressing as quickly as you otherwise could.

Today’s post isn’t about how to write a specific type of MBA essay. We’re not going to talk about career goals essays vs. leadership essays, or mistake essays vs. failure essays. We’re not going to dissect grammar or structure or rules of the road for crafting your message.

Instead, we’re going to talk about how to literally get the essay written.

As in, open up Microsoft Word and start typing.

As in, keep typing. Without flipping over to Facebook to check your feed.

As in, still typing. Without pulling your phone out of your pocket in response to a phantom text.

As in, still typing, all the way through the 500 words or however many the school has allotted you for whichever essay you’re actually attempting to write.

This isn’t rocket science. Perhaps you’ve heard of the technique before. It’s a fabulous method to use whenever you are faced with something you know you should do, but you really don’t wanna. The type of task where you don’t know where to start and so you dilly dally around and convince yourself that you’re working because you’re sitting at your computer but really you’re reading the MBA blogs and then finally you look up and you realize that it’s dark outside and the day is over and you’ve spent the last two hours looking at cat videos (this one is a current fave).

Instead of that, try this:

It’s called the Pomodoro Technique, named after a tomato, as in a timer in the shape of.

The essence of it is, you’ll use a kitchen timer – or the clock on your iPhone, or a app that you can download, or whatever – and set it for 25 minutes, at the start of which you will actually begin working. Like, launching Microsoft Word, copying in the essay question you are responding to, and then beginning to write the essay*. When the timer goes off, you stop. Take a break. 5 minutes. Then you do it again. 25 minutes work, 5 minutes break.

There’s a whole system behind it which, in our opinion, makes it a little more complicated than necessary. You can procrastinate the next 20 minutes go to this website to check it out.

Lots of people are thinking about writing essays. Make sure you’re one who actually writes them. Get started now.

* EssaySnark actually does not recommend that you write essays from scratch like this. The best way is to start with outlines. So you can use the Pomodoro Technique to begin outlining. Or you can sign up for our Essay Ideas & Outlines App Accelerator and pretend you’re being productive ACTUALLY START BEING PRODUCTIVE on developing content for your applications.