Many times I hear from people that they want better time management, but they feel like everything they’ve tried is too rigid. I felt the same way when I first started. In fact, I learned how to timebox years ago, and I didn’t actively start using it right away.
Why? I had resistance.
Resistance can be many things, but until we ask it – we simply don’t know. Where is your resistance coming from? What comes up for you when you think to timebox?
- Rigid.
- That won’t work for me.
- It’s too hard.
- My life is more complicated than one sheet of paper.
If your life is more complicated than one sheet of paper, that is the exact reason you need timeboxing.
There are some things to remember:
- Timeboxing can take less than 5 minutes a day to do. The process is training your brain to not only look ahead but also start understanding how time works in your life so you can maximize it.
- Focus on hour ranges, verses times. View it as a Jenga game verses a puzzle – the pieces fit ANYWHERE, but by not planning ahead – things can fall over.
- There is no right or wrong, just information. Plan BOXES of time LENGTH, so you can move them around easily in your schedule. You start to learn you didn’t plan long enough for certain activities or you are always getting interrupted right when your kids get home – so they need something to do.
- Plan in buffer time when you do this to avoid the domino effect. Arm grabs are inevitable.
The goal in any new routine or system is to make it work for you. This is what I do in my online coaching programs, they have the structure to have bones, but the flexibility to move them around. In my offering, “In Flow” we specifically work with these tools to make them work in your life.
Sometimes timeboxing will occur on paper, sometimes in your head. The point is, it’s only as rigid as you make it.
If this resonated, check out this video on Why Time Management is Not Rigid. For my time journal: bit.ly/timebacknow