The Power of Timeboxing

Do you want to increase your focus, get a motivation boost, or get (even) more things done? We all want this. Yet distractions are not that easy to fight. Especially as a freelancer.

What’s the solution?

If you want to focus and see results immediately, timeboxing is the best solution for you. It is a simple time management technique: you work on a certain task for a defined duration of time. After the time is finished, you can move to another task. Fairly simple, right?

By applying timeboxing, you can enhance your creativity. This is also a great tool to fight your perfectionism. You work on a task only for a defined period. Once the time is finished, you stop. No more situations when you are spending hours on making something pixel perfect. Now you can embrace your results in a defined period. The good news is: you can really timebox everything.

How can you use it?

You probably are asking yourself right now: how could I use it, are there any tools to support me, or how does it work in practice? No worries! You won’t be left alone with your doubts.

While working on Time Continuum, I use a simple tool for timeboxing called ClickTimer. I can set up to five predefined time periods. In fact, I’ve set all of them, but one hour and two hours are the two I use the most. Mainly because I have my daily routine to code every day from Monday till Friday for at least two hours. After the selected time is finished, I see an alert on the screen and can close a coding session. It really helps me to stay accountable and maintain overall coding progress at a constant and steady pace.

I’m not a big fan of the Pomodoro technique. For me, it’s a little bit to distractive to take a break after 25 minutes, but it’s a good point to start your adventure with timeboxing. Here you can find a lot of tips and tricks as well as some great tools to use Pomodoro technique.

Still not sure if this can work for you? Check 10 reasons why you should use timeboxing right now.

The challenge

This week’s challenge for you is to use timeboxing in your current project for the whole week. Choose whatever timeboxing technique suits you and start right away. Remember: the key is to take immediate action.

Share your experience

Feel free to hit the post comment button and share your experience with timeboxing!

Does it work for you? How you use it in your daily fight with perfectionism and procrastination? I would like to read about your impressions!

And if you have a different point of view on procrastination, let me know as well. I am open to new insights.

See you next week! All the best!

Mariusz from the Time Continuum App