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Nishant [email protected]
Start doing an assignment and lose focus in the first
few minutes
Your mind starts wandering, you lose interest
Take a break, when you get back, can’t really focus
So you take another break
This sound familiar ?
Lack of clear tasks to work on at any given moment
Time starts to bleed, tasks take longer than they should
Focusing for too long, kills productivity
A vicious procrastination cycle starts
Here’s what’s going on
Make the task you’re working on very clear
Keep the task timed and super short (2-3 min)
Try and beat the time
Have fixed, small, time goals for planning and reflecting between tasks and creating your next task
How to break the cycle
Causes you to focus effort fully in short bursts
Makes it interesting - trying to beat the clock
Increase efficiency - move on to the next task
Get it down on paper instead of in your head
Why does this work ?
Grab a countdown timer
A blank paged notebook (any notebook will do)
A pen
A few behavior anchors (headphones, pencil to chew on, gum, water to sip, reading glasses etc.)
Getting Started
Step 1
Set the timer for 3 min
Use the 3 min to break up your work in basic tasks
Keep an eye on the clock and beat the time
Stop when the time is up!
Example:Project: Making these slidesBasic tasks
Pick TopicBrainstormMake Slides
Set the timer for 3 min again
Use the 3 min to fill in subtasks for each task
Be extremely specific, each sub task should require 3 min of work - if needed, apply this step to the subtasks
Step 2
Example:Pick Topic- Brainstorm topics- Shortlist topics- Pick one
Brainstorm- Mindmap around topic- List top ideas- Pick one idea
Make Slides- Mindmap slide topics- Order slide topics- Make a list of slides- Make slide 1…..
Set the timer for 2 min to plan out the first subtask
In the 2 min scribble down what you need to do for the subtask and what outcome you want by the end
Keep the outcome concrete and it should be manageable with 3 min of work – make it really small
Step 3
Example:Brainstorm Topics
- want 3 topic ideas- in the area of procrastination- with a focus on time management
Set timer for 3 min
Do the subtask you planned out
Try and get to the key deliverable – it doesn’t have to be perfect!
Keep an eye on the clock – try and beat the time
Step 4
Example:Topics:- timer system- take breaks every 5 min- work for long chunks of time
Set the timer for 1 min
Reflect on the task you just did
Do you need another 3 min? or is it good enough
Scribble down anything you learnt from the task and thoughts on the next task
Step 5
Example:Reflection:- The idea about a timing system seems promising
Be consistent! Time planning, doing and reflecting
Take a 3 min break after doing 3 subtasks
If you feel like a subtask didn’t get done, and if you really need another 3 min. do it!
Always keep an eye on the clock, the clock is king!
Always listen to the same type of music and chew the same gum/pencil when using the timing system
Points to remember