Timeboxing Can Improve Your Time Management Skills

Timeboxing (or Time Boxing, Time-boxing) is a simple productivity improvement technique that sets a specific amount of time to do a job. Time is such an abstract concept that we have a hard time seeing it as a limited resource, like water in a tank or money in your pocket. A Time Box can help you visualize time as a limited resource and retrain your brain to make the most of it.
Here’s how Timeboxing works: Time Box

1. Pick a task you want to work on.

2. Set a specific amount of time to work on the selected task.

3. Stop working on it when the allocated time has elapsed.

4. Re-evaluate.

It sounds simple, but you can learn a lot by following this four-step process. The last step, “Re-evaluate,” is the most critical and you should pay careful attention to it:

• If you finished your task, great, you are done. Reward yourself with a break and then move on to the next task.
• If the allocated time wasn’t enough to complete your task, spend some time re-evaluating and try to understand what went wrong. Ask yourself:

Did I allocate reasonable time to execute this task?

Was my estimate wrong? Why?

Did I waste too much time with distractions? Which distractions? What can I do to avoid them?

Did I try to do too much? What should be eliminated? How can I trim my task?

Was I too perfectionist? Should I be more realistic?

See how you can learn a lot and tune yourself to be more productivity with this simple 4-step process? It’s just a matter of realizing that time is a limited resource and you have to learn how to make the most of it.

GoalEnforcer Hyperfocus 2012 introduces a new built-in Timeboxing Timer control that can help you visualize a “Time Box” and easily implement the 4-step Time Boxing method mentioned above. In order to activate the Time Boxing control, navigate to the Hyperfocus Zone and click the Time Boxing button on the bottom toolbar.

Download a free GoalEnforcer Hyperfocus demo and start playing with the Timeboxing Timer today!

Time Box Timer