Time boxing is an idea that people use to be more productive. The idea is you "box" of a time period, say 1 hour, and only work on one task or project for that hour without any distractions.
No email, Internet or making a coffee!
At the end of each session you put stop what you are doing until your next time boxed session. You regularly box off time to work on a project and thus ensure progress on your task or project.
Time boxing works well because of the end effect. You know your time is running out on each boxed off time so you work hard to finish your task at hand. It also helps you stop burning out if you work continuously on a project with ever taking time to relax.
The time boxing approach to getting things done works well for two types of tasks
- Small one off tasks like getting you emails sorted and replied to or sorting out that book shelf. You block of a time and race to get it finished.
- Longer tasks or projects where you can loose motivation because the task/project is so big. Examples of this might be that book you are writing or the iPhone game you are making. Here time boxing lets you make regular progress without having to worry about the size of the overall project. It is important you have a long enough list of things to do so when you finish on small sub task you get straight onto the next one otherwise you can loose time.
Give time boxing a try as it is an effective way to get things done.
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