Timeboxing: a goal-focused productivity strategy

He timeboxing It is a work management strategy that aims to optimize time. It is designed especially for those people who have trouble meeting their schedules or who tend to procrastinate. However, it can be used by anyone who wants to organize their time better.

Sometimes a task that should take an hour to complete ends up taking up double or triple that time. Often, this obeys the so-called Parkinson’s law, according to which “work expands until it completely occupies the time allotted for its completion.” He timeboxig helps prevent this from happening.

Likewise, it is possible that the agenda is so tight that fundamental activities end up intersecting with other less important ones. The latter prevent the former from being done fully. Applying the timeboxing this is avoided. How to implement it? Let’s see.

Timeboxing, what is it?

He timeboxing It is a time management strategy that It is based on the design of time blocks and is aimed at achieving defined objectives. It is applied to increase productivity and avoid procrastination. Sometimes micro-commitments or the most trivial tasks take up up to 60% of work time. This reduces efficiency and ends up generating more fatigue than it should.

The technique of timebloxing It can be applied individually or in teams. It also serves to make work meetings more agile and productive. It is used both for project development and for study tasks.

The strategy is based on the following guidelines:

It is necessary to define a timebox or block of time. During this period, only one task or a group of tasks associated with each other must be carried out.Each timebox must have a goal. In it timeboxing You work by objectives, so a very precise one must be defined for each block of time.At the end of the timebox the task must be interrupted. Immediately afterwards, determine if the objective was achieved, and, if not, identify the cause.

Defining the timebox

One of the decisive aspects in the application of timeboxing is the definition of timebox or blocks of time. These can range from a short period, such as an hour, to several weeks or months.. In the latter case, it is necessary to subdivide the block and specify an objective for each of these subdivisions.

Likewise, it should be noted whether you will work with a fixed or flexible block of time:

Fixed time block. It is immovable; This means that at the end of the yes or yes block, the task must be interrupted, regardless of the state it is in.Flexible time block. In this case, it is possible to increase the time block by 10 or 15 minutes, until you give closure to what you are doing.

Even if the time block chosen is monthly, planning should be done day by day. It is important that you take a break between one block of time and another. Depending on the duration of the task, this pause can be a few minutes or half an hour or an hour.

Make it work

The important thing in timeboxing is the exclusive dedication to the defined task and objective for each time block. That is why it is very important that during the established period there is disconnection from the mobile phone, the computer windows that have nothing to do with what is being done are closed and interruptions are not accepted.

As you can guess, he timeboxing It is also a method to avoid one of the contemporary evils: multitasking.. Hence, it is important that all attention be focused on the established activity, for the designated time and not pay attention to anything else.

One of the reasons the method can fail is if the time blocks are not defined in a realistic way. Good judgment must be used to determine how long a task will take, especially if fixed blocks of time are used.

The incorporation of timeboxing our routine takes time. It is possible that at the beginning there are certain gaps between what is intended and what is achieved, but over time you will see how these differences reduce, becoming less and less significant.

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