We’ve all been there. We have a huge list of things we need to do, and we just don’t get around to it. Maybe we spent too much time on the first thing, or maybe we simply diddled away the time frolicking about theIntertubes discovering the latest in speed reading techniques. Either way, our to do list did not shrink, and we have made far less progress on the things we thought we had decided were important.
Oops.
So how can we fix that? Today I experimented with something called timeboxing.
What is This Timeboxing Thing Anyway?
No, timeboxing isn’t where you get in a ring, put on some gloves, and fight with a clock. Timeboxing originated as a Software Development technique that was used to give developers a specific set of goals within a specific set of time with a specific budget. The core concepts have been simplified to become a method of organizing your time. At the beginning of the day you set aside a small period of time where you set specific start and end times for what you are planning to work on throughout the day. This gives you a semi-rigid structure for how to spend your time that day. There should also be a small period of reflection at the end of the day where you review your plan and how well it worked (Or didn’t.)
That Sounds Painful! Why Would I Ever Want to Timebox?
By giving us a specific time to start and finish work on a specific item timeboxing helps fight back against the seductive siren call of procrastination and wage war against our perfectionist tendencies.
Instead of being buffeted by the winds of chance you actually have a plan! You can actively prioritize what you do throughout the day! This written plan doubles as written accountability for what you want to get done. Egads!
Active prioritization helps bring about active engagement. Active engagement means you are far less likely to be distracted. You know what you intend to do, so you do it! Yes you have emails sitting in your inbox begging for you to respond, and the IM window of that cute chick you’ve been flirting with is flashing, but you know what you’re supposed to do, and therefore are far more likely to do it.
Active engagement brings about better discipline. By consistently giving yourself a schedule to follow and following it you become more disciplined. By becoming more disciplined, you become more productive. By becoming more productive you start accomplishing your goals faster. Who doesn’t want to accomplish some goals? Eh? Eh?
Timeboxing supports self learning by implementing the Learning Circle. Now that you have a record of all the things you set out to accomplish in a day, you can reflect upon them. You can ask yourself the hard questions. “Did I actually accomplish what I intended to? Was that worth doing? How could I do it better next time?” By consistently measuring actions you took you can actively learn! No longer do you wind up saying “How on earth did I get here?” You can simply look back through your timebox and say “Ah! This is because I spent far too much time writing blog posts instead of working on my application!” You can then implement what you learned each day in the next days plan. Hooray!
Oh, and you get better at estimating how long it will take you to do things. Practice makes perfect!
OK, You’ve Convinced Me. How Do You Do It?
Well, first you need a calendar. I created a “Timebox” calendar on my Google Apps account. I then had the calendar send me a text message a minute before each new event. Then I sat down and plugged in events for each of the tasks I wanted to accomplish that day. These events became individual timeboxes.
Then as I received text messages telling me to start working on my next timebox I would write on a 3×5 card the planned start time and the planned end time. I would also write when the actual start time was. This allows me to see how well I was actually following the timebox. Then I would write down a list of goals for the timebox. The reasoning behind this was that because my timeboxes were so generic, I.e. work on cleaning out the house, I needed to actually write down real accomplishable goals. You can skip this if your timebox is a goal in and of itself. Then I would get to work!
When I was ready to begin working on the next timebox I would sit back and reflect upon my last timebox. I would write the actual time I stopped working, record any distractions or impediments that prevented me from spending my time focusing on the timebox. Then I took the time to write down any additional action items that I had discovered while working within the timebox, mark which goals I had completed, and write any uncompleted goals out as new action items.
So… What Do You Think? What’s the Verdict?
Right now I’m torn. I really like the idea of timeboxing, and I am fairly certain it will allow me to be far more effective at accomplishing the priorities I actively set instead of passively slipping into working on whatever I think of at the moment. The rigidity of it scares me, but I am fairly flexible with the times I start or finish things. For instance, I was supposed to have this post published a half hour ago 45 minutes ago. Oops.
However, I’d like to bring out the list of things that I did today that I have been putting off for a long, long time.
- Organized my desk and moved my filing cabinet from the rental house.
- Put up a “For Rent” sign at the rental house.
- Finished pulling up the carpet holding wood things from the rental house.
- Cleaned out my car. It is now *empty* and ready to be washed. SHOCK AND AWE.
- Ran! I haven’t ran in at least a month, and it feels so wonderful.
- Wrote a blog post about timeboxing!
Overall, the pros outweigh the cons. There is a slight lack of freedom if you decide to commit to the schedule rigidly, but you plan better what you intend to do, which is pretty awesome.
I’d love to hear what you have to say about your own efforts at timeboxing in the comments!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a children’s book illustrator and I use the powers of timeboxing all the time.
It not only gets you to address the issues you HAVE to deal with (not just the ones you want to) but it prevents “monkey mind”.
…and by monkey mind I mean that you’re not allowed to fixate on something. Make your point and move on.
It aids in the creative process allowing me to strike an idea, draw it (paint it) and move forward.
Also I use it iteratively. (reflection) By going back and making changes to work that was done within a timebox.
Timeboxing isn’t a sexy word like say… agile, but if it works for you like it does for me it enables active engagement. Flow (The Psychology of Optimal Experience)
Great article.
I’m linking this in my own blog, hope you don’t mind the free publicity.