A timer. That’s it. No beating around the bush for an answer. Using a timer to get more done faster is what we’re talking about today.
Why does it work?
Knowing you only have 10 mins to complete a task prioritizes it mentally. So you don’t allow distractions to well… distract you. Your phone beeped? Oh well I’ll check it as soon as I’m done. If I’m sorting through the mail pile and find a sale paper I won’t stop and look at all the things I won’t need, go online to see if something is still in stock and price check on amazon to see if I don’t have to leave my house to get it. Instead I’ll just put it in the ‘to look at later’ pile and move on. Rabbit hole avoided, paper pile sorted when I set out to do it not 2 hours later.
Besides knowing you can’t afford distraction you also get the hurry up motivation to get the task done in record time. Or at least before the timer goes off. And when you get on a roll completing several tasks in a row all 5 minutes early you end up a whole half hour early. And that is a huge emotional win. Which means you’re more likely to do it again in the future to see if you can do it even better!
Long term benefits
You learn how long it really takes to do things. So what does that mean long term? You know how to efficiently plan your day. It’s not guesswork anymore. You may find you way underestimated some tasks and you’ll stop beating yourself up for always being behind schedule. If you aren’t getting distracted and focusing and it really did take a whole half hour and not the 15 minutes you thought then you know how to better stack up your tasks to fit it the time you have.
The opposite of course is that you could be giving yourself way too long to get one task done. This is harder to admit if you don’t usually get it all done in time anyway but at least now you know realistically how long it should take you. And the bonus is that it becomes easier since you’re committing less time than you thought.
The unexpected benefit is that you just generally get a better feel for how much time has passed. While 5 more minutes when wanting to snooze in the morning may never feel right you should get a more accurate inner timer. So maybe you can be the crazy person that knows 7 minutes have passed when someone asks how long it’s been?
Stop procrastination
Yes, this is mine. We got it as a souvenir at Silver Dollar City. It speaks to me. This blog has been 3 years in the making. That’s the level of procrastinator I’m talking about. But it’s easier to start a task if I know I’m allowed to stop really soon. So 10 minutes of doing dishes and I can walk away? Fine. Set the timer.
Of course once I’m doing the dishes I usually just finish. But giving yourself permission to stop after a period of time is huge when you just can’t seem to start something. And even if you don’t feel like finishing after you started at least you made progress.
So use your phone, or an egg timer, or whatever you have and start timing your tasks!
