How to become more productive at your work place

I am in love. I fell in love with a timer. A kitchen timer just like this. I set it everyday at a scheduled time for 30 min and I switch off for the rest of the world and focus on my defined task for the entire period of time. No distractions, no excuses, and when the alarm goes off I congratulate myself on the completion of the task. I allow myself a short break with a cup of tea and I move on to another activity. And by the end of the week or month I notice that the project is actually getting done.

Do you ever get the feeling of overwhelm from running around trying to get things done, several at a time? Or the feeling of frustration at the end of the day after sitting at your computer trying to finish off several overdue items but getting constantly distracted by checking e-mail or browsing internet for “useful” information? Do you ever lack the feeling of completion at the end of the day even if you checked off half of your 73 items to-do-list? If the answer is yes to any of these questions then you might like to check out the power of setting a timer to help you tackle those challenges. Caution: you might fall in love or become obsessed with it, as this simple act will do marvels to your productivity and your well-being.

It goes like this:

1. Pick one project.

2. Define the task (more on this in one of the coming posts).

3. Schedule a certain amount of time for every working day until the end of the month (30 min to start with, after a couple of weeks you can increase it to 60 min and even 90 min). Example: 9:30-10:00 literature review for the X paper.

4. When the 9:30 comes, set the timer and focus on the task (no checking e-mails, weather, stock market, or on-line bank account). Even if you don’t known how and where to start working on your task, just sit there focusing on it, and the ideas will eventually come flowing (I promise :-))

5. When the alarm goes off at 10:00, stop the activity, congratulate yourself on the completion, go have a brake with a cup of tea or coffee and move on to another activity.

This way it is not just your supervisor who gets to congratulate you on your achievement; you can also do it for yourself which is very important for your well-being (especially if you don’t have a boss). You also avoid the feeling of being burned-out in this task in one day and by scheduling a small amount of time for every working day, you’ll keep your motivation high for this project. With the timer you give yourself boundaries in which you can unfold and spread and do whatever you need to do avoiding the danger of running away from this activity. The timer also keeps you in your chair (no coffee or checking mail) and you just focus on the task (no distractions such as e-mails, messaging etc).

Your mobile might have the timer function, or get yourself a kitchen timer for £1.99 from Argos. You’ll notice the results very soon. Happy accomplishing 🙂