The Only Productivity Hack I Use
Number 6 in the Countdown of the Best Advice for Loving Your Free Time
I may be the only person to ever say (or be willing to admit) that a clickbait article changed my life! But it did! I would never have written a word or ever told a joke on stage were it not for time-boxing. I stumbled upon an article about time-boxing from an internet listicle while shredding the internet like an Olympic snowboarder during my early days of unemployment. Both my spirit and my to-do list have not been the same since. Time-boxing is the one productivity hack to rule them all! I did not make it my number one recommendation because I do not want to promote toxic productivity or allow productivity to be the focus of the conversation about unstructured time, but it is a key part of the conversation.
Many layers build up to prevent us from jumping into big projects. Procrastination, emotional avoidance, and feelings of overwhelm, to name a few, not to mention the recipe keeping, world-news dispensing, mind games playing, entertainment spewing, communications hub, and camera in your hand at this very moment. When I was first unemployed, I dreamed of writing, but I could not summon the fortitude, the organization, or the flexibility to write without time-boxing.
Time-boxing helps me tackle projects from working on a novel to planning my child’s birthday party to organizing the kitchen. I look for opportunities to fit in a block of time on the projects I care about. I find an hour here and an hour there to make progress, and I do not let the perfect (completing the project or knowing how it is going to end) be the enemy of the good (moving the project in the right direction) It works with my flexible schedule and helps me make progress.
A Few Recommendations For Tackling A Big Project
Start (Semi) Well Rested
If you are new to having unstructured time, enjoy your free time! Sleep in! Watch some TV! Wander your local area! Do not try to tackle a big project in your first week with nothing to do. Give yourself a little time and space to think about what needs to get done and how you would like to spend your time.
Start
Every journey begins with a single spreadsheet! I mean, step! Spend 30 minutes [a time box!] to do a little research. Collect the relevant materials. Figure out if you need anything else to proceed without the pressure of needing to complete something.
Enlist Help!
Just because you have a lot of time does not mean that you can or should tackle a project alone. Even if you are embarking on a personal development project like running or learning a language, talk to a friend with experience. It helps to have an outside perspective, and having someone to check in with will help you get moving.
The One Strategy That Will Help You Get Started: Practice Time Boxing
Time boxing sounds like you are punching time in the face, which is a little bit what it actually is. It is a time management strategy, used in business schools and companies worldwide and by writers (and by sleep-deprived, wildeyed moms trying to do something other than parent), where you set a certain amount of time to work on a project and then evaluate your progress.
What time-boxing looks like for me is setting a timer for 15 minutes to tidy the house, and I stop when it goes off, even if there are still toys on the floor. The house is cleaner than it was before, progress! Then I can move on to other projects.