My Favourite Productivity Hack – Timeboxing

The past couple of weeks have been life-changing for me in how I work, thanks to a brilliant productivity hack called TIMEBOXING! Not only have I been more organised, my stress levels are much lower as I’m actually achieving what I set out to do. I have less of the ‘I’ll never get this all done’ because I’m planning my work more and setting realistic targets.

Although I try to be really organised, it’s sometimes really hard to achieve what I had planned to do when I’m constantly distracted by emails, mobile phone notifications and client calls. Working from home is great but there’s currently the added pressure of homeschooling, furloughed family members milling around and extra postal deliveries to deal with.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you are trying to concentrate on a list of tasks but feel like there’s less time to work on them. That’s where timeboxing comes in – a technique which has really helped me achieve more of my to-do list every day. It’s truly life changing as it affects the sense of achievement I feel for actually completing what I set out to do, which in turn has had a massively positive impact on my mental health and stress levels.

What is timeboxing?

Put simply, timeboxing is planning what you want to achieve each day, scheduling a set time for each task, and ticking everything off the list.

There are a series of simple, practical steps you take to timebox effectively, which include time for emails and checking your mobile phone, but not at the expense of getting the planned work done.

Step 1 – Plan your day

Before you start anything, write a list of what you want to achieve. It needs to be REALISTIC, so don’t overstretch yourself with tasks that you are unlikely to get to. You can either do this the night before or on the day, before you start any tasks.

Step 2 – Plan the order of tasks

Order the list as you see fit, knowing at which times in the day you’ll have the best chance of completing the ‘maximum concentration’ tasks. For me, things like writing need the most concentration and quiet, so there’s no point planning those for when my son is doing a maths lesson as he may need some help. There are other tasks which are easier to pick up and put down which make sense to plan during the homeschooling periods.

Step 3 – Plan how long to spend on each task

Once you have an ordered list, write how much time you want to spend on each task next to it. Ideally you would do this in 15, 30, 45 or 60 minute chunks. This step could mean that you need to add or remove tasks if your estimates mean that the tasks are unachievable or you can fit more in than you originally thought.

Step 4 – Plan for breaks!

Make sure you leave gaps for breaks, lunch, checking emails and mobile phone notifications. This is important because if you don’t allow for these activites then you are setting yourself up to fail as they will eat into the time for your planned work.

Step 4 – Use a timer

When you’ve refined the list and planned your day, you need to monitor and time the segments which are allocated to tasks. Modern technology is ideal for this!

Mobile phones have alarms and timers, as do wearable technologies like the Apple Watch. Siri, Alexa and other smart home devices will listen to your instructions and remind you when it gets to a certain time.

So when you start your first task, if it should take an hour then simply set an alarm which will remind you when the time is up. If you finish early then bring forward the next task or take a break. If you haven’t finished when the time is up then you need to make a priority call. Is it more important to finish it today, or can it wait until tomorrow? Is there something later on in the day which can be postponed until tomorrow to get this task finished? You need to be flexible, and the system allows for this.

The really cool thing about timeboxing is that if you keep track of how long tasks ACTUALLY take then it will improve your estimating skills. If you expected a graphic to take 30 minutes to design but it ended up taking 60 then you will know how long to allocate next time.

Dealing with interruptions

However much you organise the day there will always be times when things don’t go to plan. You might get an unexpected client call which lasts for half an hour, or a piece of schoolwork which needs more supervision than you’d expected. If this happens there are a number of options; you can postpone some of the lower priority tasks to the following day, or work slightly later than planned to finish off everything on the list.

You’re a timeboxing champ!

The more you practise timeboxing the better you’ll get at estimating how long to spend on each task. For bigger tasks or projects, break them up into smaller chunks to work on. Not only does this make them more manageable, they’re also easier to plan for.

If you’re guilty of getting carried away with tasks which seemingly grow arms and legs then timeboxing helps you focus on the core activity and prevents scope creep. Using a timer means that you won’t overrun and keeps you on track.

Before long, you’ll be working really effectively and keeping distractions to a minimum. You’ll be astonished how much more productive you are, which will have an incredibly positive impact on your mental health and sense of achievement. Your stress levels will be lower and you’ll no longer feel like you’re drowning under a sea of unachievable work.

If it works for Elon Musk then it must be good!