TimeBoxing: Variation on a Time Management Theme

Living in a world with more and more convenience, it can seem strange that most people are running dangerously low on time. If you don't treat it as a valuable asset, time can slip away through the cracks in your daily schedule before you know it.

One of the more popular time management methods used by students, employees, executives, and those wanting to better manage their time is the timeboxing technique. This technique is simple, yet powerful and it involves separating your various tasks into limited boxes of time.

Unlike how you normally approach a task, but just attempting to do it until it gets done, you put a deadline or time limit on each task in order to push yourself to get it done and out through the window.

The purpose of this article is not to teach you how to properly use time boxing, or to give you a lengthy introduction about what it is and how you can use it. Rather, the aim of this article is to talk a bit about some of the minor flaws associated with the technique, and some simple variations I have been using to make the method a bit more interesting, fun, and to avoid those flaws that most people dislike about this time management method.

When using the method on a smaller scale, rather than setting large deadlines for huge projects, one sets mini-deadlines or time limits for some of the smaller tasks in the project. Used in a more personal way, those deadlines might be set for things that you do on a daily basis, like checking and replying to emails.

There are a number of flaws when it comes to using it on a more personal stage though. Let’s begin this article by talking about some of the more outstanding ones for me.

In using the timeboxing technique, you need something to keep track of the time. This is normally either a clock or a timer. For instance, you might set the timer for 30 minutes, and force yourself to get your 1 page report done before that time. If you don’t get it done by this time, you’ll have to stop doing it and hand it in as-is no matter what.

Trying to meet the deadline creates a sense of urgency, and somehow your brain makes you get through the task much faster than you normally would be able to.

But there’s a problem…

The problem is that when doing timeboxing, there is often a need to keep looking at the clock or timer in order to see how much time is left. After all, if you don’t know how much time you have left, you might accidentally think that you still have a ton, and you tend to take your time.

This continuous back and forth looking at the timer can be tedious at times. Especially for smaller timeboxed tasks, like tasks of 5 or 10 minutes.

Another problem is that once time is up, if you are using a timer, the timer tends to give out a nice little noisy ring, as timers are ought to do. This can be annoying for some people, and it’s often not very fun getting shaken up by loud ringing if you are using one of those more traditional timers rather than a digital one on your computer.

In order to overcome the problem of constantly looking at the clock or timer, and still know roughly how much time you have left, we’ll need to use some audial constraints rather than visual ones. This also helps with removing the need for a loud ring in order to announce the end of the time limit. :)

When talking about using something related to audio to let you know how much time you have left, I don’t mean some sort of digital talking that tells you that you have 2 minutes left, or 30 seconds left and counting... :P

Well, you can use that if you want, but I think I would find that a bit annoying too.

So this is what I tried to do. I used a song that I’m familiar with and turn the song on, starting from the beginning. I normally use time boxing when doing work on my computer, so I just turn on the music player application that I have on my PC and play one of the songs on there.

Since I’m familiar with the song, I know where it starts, I know when it roughly reaches the middle, and I know when it ends. Instead of using the traditional timer or clock to time box, I use the music in the form of a song to tell me how much time I have left.

I thus limit myself in this way…

Before the song ends, I have to complete this task. That’s my deadline…

I can thus concentrate on doing the task without needing to peek at the timer or clock again and again and again. Also, I don’t need to be alerted by a loud annoying ring once the time limit is over.

It’s a lot more fun, and it cuts out some of the bad points when it comes to time boxing too!

I tried this out for tasks that are normally a bit shorter in time length, like 3 to 5 minutes, which is the average time for a song to play. For longer tasks, I would use an album I’m familiar with, or just use more than one song in the lineup.

I hope you enjoyed this little idea that I shared and which you can use as a variation on the time boxing technique if you normally use it to manage your time.

Do give it a try, and let me know if it works for you using the comments below. Everyone has their own way of working, and their own personal preferences when it comes to things that work well for them and things that don’t.

That being said, this variation may or may not work for you considering the way you like to do things, but regardless it’ll be fun to try something new and it may even give you more inspiration during your daily tasks. :)

A small tip is that you might want to try using different types of songs and albums to time box with. A more upbeat song might push you to get that task done much more quickly. A more relaxing song might have the opposite effect.

So, experiment and see what works best for you.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my little idea with regards to creating variations with the timeboxing technique. If you enjoyed this article, please support my work by voting it up and sharing it with your friends too!