WHAT IS TIME BOXING / TIME BLOCKING?
Time boxing is a very simple but massively effective productivity hack and involves 3 small steps. It's the backbone of the MY PA Planner Time Management system and the great thing about it is it is so easy to incorporate and there are so many benefits.
In a 2018 study conducted by Harvard University, Time-boxing was chosen as the most effective productivity tip. You can see the full details here. Time-boxing will improve your life.
The time boxing method in three steps
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Brain dump | Write down everything you think you need to do. |
| 2. Prioritize | Pick the top 3 most important tasks of the day. |
| 3. Time box | Give each task a fixed time slot, schedule it and stick to it. |
HOW TO USE THE TIME BOXING METHOD
1. Brain dumping
It's a technique used by experts to formulate your thoughts and ideas onto paper. Simply write down everything you think need to do.
2. Prioritising
Next, you identify the most important top 3 tasks of the day which ensures you don't overlook your most vital tasks for the day.
3. Time Boxing.
Is where you assign a fixed period of time to a task, schedule it and stick to it. You schedule everything including breaks. (Everything takes time).
The great thing about time blocking is it gets you to focus on one task at a time, it stops you from multi-tasking which in turn reduces feelings of worry overwhelm, and stress. The skill is being able to assign the correct amount of time to the tasks but as you get more and more practice and learn how long different tasks and actions take, you get more and more accurate and the system just gets better and better.
My advice, if you just starting out with this method is to assign more time than you think you need. Generally speaking tasks always take longer than you think. Don’t forget to record how long certain tasks take.
Let's start time-boxing now.
TIME BOXING TUTORIAL
We have created a quick tutorial here about how to Time Box.
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