Timeboxing is something we practice a lot in agile project management, and is really great for overcoming perfectionism and getting things done.
Try it out, and you may find it will change the way you live... in a productive way.
The concept is simple: plan an amount of time, a "timebox", for a specific activity, and in that timebox, focus only on doing that one thing, do as much as you can, and stop when you've reached the end of the timebox.
A timebox should be short, from 5 minutes for small activities (like making a phone call) to maximum 2 hours for a work process that requires some time. Remember CANI: every little step forward is a step in the right direction:)
If, for example, you feel your home is a mess, but just can't get round to cleaning it... Maybe you've been in pain for a long time and haven't had strength. You're trying to cope with everything while the health problems are eating most of your energy and gradually things have just gotten out of control. There's so much to catch up on, bills, dishes, laundry, things that need to be mended etc etc that you just don't know where to start and end up feeling awful about the mess and being hard on yourself for not doing anything about it.
So start with writing a list, what need to be done? Group thing stogether in things you can do on your own, things you need more information to do (how are you going to get it? What is the first step?), things you can do from home and things you need to go somewhere to do. What is the most important thing on your list? If it's hard to prioritize, always put your own basic physical needs first. Have you eaten today? Drank enough water? Are you warm and relatively comfortable?
Then you are ready to timebox. Look at your day, and fit in a 30-60 minute block of time to get started on doing the stuff on your list, NO MORE! I know it's tempting to be ambitious, but trust me, if you focus for 30 minutes on doing just one thing, you will really get somewhere and it will feel great!
Start with the smallest or easiest thing on you list so you get rolling, and then just keep working without distraction for the set amount of time.
The comes the hardest part: when the timebox is over:
And then: pat yourself on the back, put a big grin on your face, and go do something relaxing and fun to celebrate your awesomeness :)
Thanks for this Anna! It has already helped me out in a couple of instances.
ReplyDeleteLists are good!