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Adrenaline Junkies' Antidote: Timeboxing

  young adrenalin junkie 
  Originally uploaded by shomieyaya.

"Organizing the Writing Life" Day 2: Maximize Time AND Juggle Multiple Projects is up at Write Now is Good.

This is one of my favorite posts I did for KG, because it's all about mind tricks we can do to get ourselves to work in a more focused manner.

I talk about timeboxing, which is a godsend if you suffer from perfectionism and procrastination.

Timeboxing is basically putting very strict boundaries around the amount of time you'll spend on a project or task. This is basically the technique I employ when I do my 4 hour workday.

Here's what's so great about Timeboxing:

*It gets you over the perfectionism/procrastination hump that causes so many of us to stumble. By telling yourself "I'm going to work on this blog post for 15 minutes and get as much done as I can", you sort of free yourself from the pressure of having to come up with a finished, polished product. In 15 minutes, the post might be done, but it might not be. What you're going for is just working on it for 15 minutes, rather than a desired outcome. The bright spot is that when your momentum gets rolling in a particular direction, it's likely to keep on rolling that way. Making a dent in a project is a huge, necessary step towards completion.

*It helps get momentum going on bigger projects. We've all been there. There's a gargantuan project that we need to do, and it's just so huge that we don't even know where to begin with it. Most of the time, we'll procrastinate and save it until the last minute. Then we have no choice but to dive in and "get 'er done".

Imagine how much simpler our lives would be if we just jumped in on the first day and started taking bites out of the project until it was finished. Imagine all the drama and stress we would save ourselves. Also, imagine all the time we would save, cuz you know that even though we're not actively working on the gargantuan project, we're still mentally obsessing over it and dreading it.

Again, it's the momentum thing--getting the ball rolling is half the battle. If you have a big project that you're working on, and you don't know quite where to start, do this:

Set aside a specific chunk of time (30 to 120 minutes) to devote your attention to the project.

If you're writing a book or something, you might say, "I'm going to sit down for one hour, and I'm going to write down every idea that's swirling around in my head about this book. It doesn't have to be in order. It doesn't have to make sense. I'm just going to do a mind sweep of everything regarding this project, and I'm going to allow myself one hour to do this."

*It makes time fly. By telling yourself that you're only going to work on your project for 30 minutes (or whatever) you've given yourself permission to stop at a certain time, which is a huge motivator.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. This is not just a bottomless pit of a project. Buoyed by knowing that there is relief in sight, you charge into your project whole heartedly. You start working on it with passion, and time passes quickly because you're totally focused in on what you're doing.

Before you know it, 2 hours have come and gone. This is fine. This "time-flying" experience is a positive perk of time-boxing. It's okay to work longer than you intended if you feel like it.

*Procrastination is passive timeboxing. There are some folks who say that they procrastinate because they love to have a tight deadline. They say they work best when there's a time limit, and when their adrenaline gets going, it gives them inspiration and energy.

I can totally see that. It's true-- when we procrastinate and save something til the last minute, its seems like on most occassions we're able to pull it off. There's a rush to beat the clock, and then there's a huge rush of relief when we're scrape by unscathed.

Personally, I'm trying to decrease the amount of stress in my life. Although procrastination can give an adrenaline rush, it also brings about a lot of wasted time and stress.

Here's a thought--If you want the rush and the time constraints, why not try timeboxing instead? You create your own deadlines, and if you respect the time constraints you put on yourself, you will get that adrenaline rush when the clock starts tick, tick, ticking down.

If you'd like to learn more about timeboxing and a few other mind tricks for those who want the adrenaline rush, but don't want the stress of possibly not finishing a project on time, check out my post over at Write Now is Good.

If you can't do the 4-hour workday...your iPod is the key

Some people have expressed that although they'd like to do the 4-hour workday experiment that they can't, either because they work in a regular office and need to work 9-5, or because their plate is so full that there's no way that 4 hours is going to cut it.

The good news is that there's nothing really magical about the 4 hour time period. The exercise works because knowing you're only working a half day creates a tight time constraint, which helps you kick your efficiency into high gear.

As Steve Pavlina says, "Once your brain realizes that working time is scarce, you suddenly become a lot more efficient because you have to be. When you have tight time constraints, you will usually find a way to get your work done."

So, how can you get the benefits of the 4-hour workday approach if your job dictates that you've gotta work 9-5 (or longer)?

1. Set some sort of timer that will alert you when 30 minutes has passed.
2. Focus on completing as much work as you can within the 30 minute time limit.
3. When the timer goes off, stop working for 5 minutes.
4. Take the 5 minute break to organize what you're going to work on for the next 30 minutes.
5. After the 5 minute break, start the process again.

In the olden days (you know, the 1990's), we would have simply used an egg timer, an alarm clock or a stopwatch to monitor our time and keep us focused on task, but hey, this ain't the dark ages any longer.

There's a much cooler way to do this productivity exercise using a gadget you probably already own--your iPod.

This little iPod productivity trick comes to us from Brad, and his instructions are:

1. From the main menu screen Scroll to the Extras and click the middle button

2. From extras, choose Clock

3. Choose the Sleep timer and pick a time period (I choose either 15 or 30 minutes)

4. Select some music.

From there, it’s a race against the clock. How much work can you do on your project before the music stops? Challenge yourself. Get busy - work focused - work fast.

And this is key:

When the music stops, you stop!

Put down your pen, put down your work. Take 5 minutes to think about what you got done and what’s left. You can’t get back to work until the 5 minutes is up, so plan what you are going to do during this time.

Great tip, Brad!

I've discovered an extra bonus that goes along with this exercise--the earphones work as a mini "do not disturb sign".

When people come up to me to make small talk, and they see that I'm wearing earphones, they usually say, "Ohhhh, you can't hear me." Then they go away and leave me alone.

The reality is that I can hear them just fine (shhhh, don't tell!), but I am trying to concentrate on my work, and I need to not be constantly interrupted.

Another thing I've learned--the music you choose is crucial. If you're trying to read or write, you might want to listen to classical music or nature sounds. Save the Metallica for when you're working out or cleaning the house ;-).

Even if your day stretches beyond 4 hours, if you do this exercise you'll gradually increase the amount of time that you can stay focused on a particular task.

And remember, your optimum productivity time period may not need to be longer than 30 minutes. Brad reports that master copywriter Edward Schwartz found that his productivity sweet spot was 33 minutes and 33 seconds, and he always set his pocket timer accordingly.

(I can anticipate the protest that will come with this productivity tip. I can hear some folks saying,  "But my boss won't let me listen to my iPod at work." If this is the case, simlply give me his/her email addy, and I'll have a word with this slavedriver of a boss of yours about the importance of getting creative with how we handle workflow. )

The 4-Hour Workday Refresher

  Gloomy hard at work 
  Originally uploaded by dollie_mixtures.

It's hard to believe that it's been 4 months since my 4 hour workday experiment. I look back on that time with fondness--those were the days when I could be done working by noon, when I had time to eat breakfast each morning, and when I actually found myself thinking "What should I do with all  this extra time?".

Since then, I've sort of fallen off the wagon. Today I woke up at 5:45am, and before doing anything I turned on my computer, just to do a "quick check" of email.

Before long I found myself working on posts for my blog, doing research, visiting other folks' blogs and seeing what they were up to. I got caught up in the momentum and decided to dive into client work, and after that I went back to working on writing and researching posts for eSoup.

Then I noticed my stomach rumbling. I looked at the clock and saw that it was after 12pm, and I was still in the midst of doing the longest "quick check" in the history of mankind.

That's 6 hours straight on the internet, time that has evaporated in a poof into thin air. Breakfast was by-passed. Lunch was forgotten. The disheartening thing is that I'm not even finished with everything yet. If I keep on the pace that I'm going now, I can see that I'll be working into the night again.

To tell you the truth, I've been slipping for a few weeks now. Today's "quick check" fiasco was simply the cry for help that I needed to get my own attention. Obviously it's time to do a refresher, to get back to the basics and try to get my time back under control.  The good news is that I've done this before, so I know that it works. Here's the plan:

Have a set start and finish time. I'm going from 10am-12pm breaking for lunch, and then coming back from 12:30pm-2:30pm. Of course if you're playing along at home, you can do what fits your schedule.

Plan out the day ahead of time. Write down and prioritize what needs to be done that day before turning on the computer

Firewall time for each activity. I've noticed that my time on the computer can be broken down into a few categories: client work, eSoup (writing, researching, and responding to comments), participating in various online communities, and admin stuff for my own business. I've written down a goal of how much time I'd like to spend on each one of these items so that my total hours on the computer sum up to 4 hours. I then scheduled each block of time on my dayplanner and do the activity at its scheduled time.

At the end of the work time, turn off the computer. Duh, right? This sounds like an obvious step, but it's actually the tricky part. After "work time", it's tempting to say, "Alright, now I get to play!" and then go surfing the net, but that's how the trouble starts.

Unlike reading a book or going to a movie, exploring the internet is an activity that has no end. It's like trying to take a quick stroll through the Amazon jungle. Once you saunter in there, you're not coming out any time soon.

Aside from the net surfing, the thing that will be the biggest challenge to get under control is the blogging time. Many of you have blogs yourselves, so you know that, although it's completely fun and worthwhile, maintaining a blog is a major time investment. The client work and the work on my own business is actually the easiest part of the day for me. The area where things start to get out of hand is with the blogging, online socializing and internet surfing.

Another part of the refresher:

Steve Pavlina specializes in productivity and had lots of great tips that I incorporated into my plan. One hint he gave was: Do not try to force yourself to work harder. This doesn't work. What he recommends is to severely limit the total amount of time you spend working each day, and then see what happens.

Steve says, "Once your brain realizes that working time is scarce, you suddenly become a lot more efficient because you have to be. When you have tight time constraints, you will usually find a way to get your work done. But when you have all the time in the world, it's too easy to be inefficient."

Tomorrow is day one for me. I'll let you know how it goes!