Speaker:
Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with too many things to do, I think
Speaker:
back to my university days back then I was enrolled in, I dunno, six or more
Speaker:
courses per term, but I still managed to get it all done without knowing it.
Speaker:
I was using a strategy to actually stretch time and get more done
Speaker:
in less time on today's show.
Speaker:
I'm going to teach you this exact strategy.
Speaker:
I'm a man Ahmed.
Speaker:
Welcome to be.
Speaker:
Well, do.
Speaker:
Today, I'm talking about a simple but effective time management strategy
Speaker:
that will actually make it feel like you can get more done in less time.
Speaker:
I know big promises to illustrate this example.
Speaker:
Let me tell you a quick little.
Speaker:
I remember a while back, I had moved into a new house and the pink
Speaker:
colors that the previous owners had chosen really weren't my style.
Speaker:
I want it to have something a bit neutral in one room, something a
Speaker:
little bit more lively in another.
Speaker:
And I want it to paint a feature wall in the family room.
Speaker:
Imagine what would happen if you started to prime in one room and
Speaker:
then left it and left the paintbrush and the rollers and the paint to
Speaker:
go do another room and to do the.
Speaker:
Then you leave that and you go to your other room and start painting
Speaker:
the feature wall with a color.
Speaker:
By the time you come back to the first room, your roller is now dry
Speaker:
and you have to go and wash it and get it ready for another coat of paint.
Speaker:
Then you go back to your second room and your paintbrush is now dry.
Speaker:
So you're going to have to take care of that.
Speaker:
Then you go back to your third room.
Speaker:
You get the point.
Speaker:
If you keep hopping back and forth between the rooms and you don't
Speaker:
finish one specific room, it's going to end up taking a lot less.
Speaker:
Then you need it too.
Speaker:
So needless to say, this is not efficient, but this is what
Speaker:
we do all day long at work.
Speaker:
We have good intentions of opening our email and processing, but then
Speaker:
we get distracted by an urgent phone call or a client request.
Speaker:
Then we come back and we realize that that we have a meeting that we have to get to.
Speaker:
So we leave our email half.
Speaker:
Go to the meeting and then come back to that email.
Speaker:
But then we realized we didn't take great notes during your emails.
Speaker:
So you have to rewatch your meeting, recording to figure out what to do next.
Speaker:
This is what happens every day, all day, all around the globe, inefficient.
Speaker:
And it just ends up wasting a lot of time.
Speaker:
This is where timeboxing comes in.
Speaker:
You've probably heard the term in many different ways, but in a nutshell,
Speaker:
Time boxing is just as it sounds, you create a box of time and you
Speaker:
don't do anything, but the task.
Speaker:
Okay.
Speaker:
Well, it may not feel like you're getting a lot done in a day.
Speaker:
Completing tasks actually has a really profound, psychological effect.
Speaker:
You don't have that cognitive overload sitting on your shoulders and you're
Speaker:
not thinking about it all the time.
Speaker:
It also works incredibly well because.
Speaker:
You're finishing one task, then moving to the other.
Speaker:
Some estimates say that we lose up to 50% productivity by switching tasks.
Speaker:
Now, how would you feel if you could get more done in the day by simply
Speaker:
focusing on one task at a time, what would you actually get done?
Speaker:
Maybe you'd have more time to spend with your family.
Speaker:
Maybe you'd have more time to actually work on the project that
Speaker:
keeps getting put on the back of.
Speaker:
If you're interested in learning more about timeboxing and a
Speaker:
software, I use check out the show notes@bewelldowell.fm slash six.
Speaker:
Join me tomorrow on a show where I'll be talking about all things, sushi,
Speaker:
happiness, and the source of fulfillment.