Time-boxing: An Introduction

    It took me two decades and a half to figure out how to fight procrastination. (A struggle that continues to this day.) My most successful strategy? Time-boxing.

    If you've read this blog or other productivity blogs, you may have heard the term "time-boxing" before. If the term is new to you, let me introduce it: Time-boxing is a strategy in which you take control of time and use it strategically to get things done. You set a clock for a set period of time, focus on whatever task is at hand, and when the timer goes off, you drop everything and take a break.

    The psychology behind it is this: When you know a break is coming, when you know your misery has an endpoint, you feel more motivated to move forward, even if the task is awful. In fact, starting a task often makes you realize that the task is not as awful as you thought it was. Getting started is the hardest part. 

    After your break, you're refreshed, and you start the clock again. When I use this method, I get far more done, I get it done in a shorter amount of time, and I feel much less spent. Instead of checking Twitter in the middle of a paragraph, I know that I can check Twitter on my break. Instead of checking my phone, I wait until my break. It gives me something to look forward to, and helps me get "in the zone." 

    Time-boxing is effective for the crucial "must-do" tasks, and it is effective for those chores around the house you have been dreading. Want to write a book? Set a clock and write words. Want to clean your garage? Do a time-boxing session. Even if it is just one short session! Remember, starting is often the hardest part. 

    The most popular time-boxing method is the Pomodoro Method. Put simply, a "Pomodoro" is 25 minutes of uninterrupted focus upon one clearly described task. Complete the Pomodoro, take a 5 minute break, do another Pomodoro. After 4 Pomodoros, you take a longer break of 15-30 minutes. (15 is almost never enough for me. I think 30 is well-earned.) 

   Another feature of the Pomodoro Method (which applies equally well to any time-boxing method) is its ability to provide data on how long certain tasks take. For example, when I was writing my dissertation, I figured out that writing a page took THREE TIMES more Pomodoros than I initially thought it did. You may find that other tasks take less time than you think. (For me, this often happens with tasks I am procrastinating. In my mind, they grow into venomous beasts of burden, but they're usually just annoying little pests.)
    
    But let's be honest: This is all well and good... but sometimes 25 minutes is too daunting. At least for me. 

    Sometimes it is because of anxiety associated with the task. Other times I am tired, or in a room with lots of distractions, or just plain feeling lazy. When I'm in this mode, I don't use the Pomodoro Method. I use my own method. 
    
    I call it the Airplane Method.  I can cruise at this altitude forever. It's like walking a mile... you aren't going to be winded at the end, but you'll get there. 

    It functions similarly to the Pomodoro Method. and has the same ultimate goals, but adds a third block of time in which I prep, outline, and/or think about the task I'm about to do. I call this phase the "Runway" phase. The plane is on the runway, the gates are closed, and we're preparing for liftoff. (I also allow myself to go get coffee or fiddle around my desk during this time... anything tangentially related to my task is fair game.) 

    This allows me to ease into my task. This period lasts 6 minutes. Then I focus for 18 minutes--the actual "Flight." And then I take a 6 minute break--the "Landing." (I use these numbers partly out of a strange obsession with even numbers, and to make it a little different than the Pomodoro Method.)  
     
    The important thing with time-boxing, whether it involves tomatoes or airplanes, is to stick to it! If you are loose with the rules, then it will simply become another vehicle for procrastination. 

    If you want to learn more about procrastination and ways to fight it, let's talk on Twitter. Or, if you are so inclined, sign up for my This Month in Productivity newsletter! If you are reading this on my website, you can sign up below. If you are reading this via e-mail or RSS feeder, contact me at mjmottajr@gmail.com and I'll set it up for you.

    Have a productive week! 

What is a "Long-Term" Person? And How Do I Become One?

As one of my favorite bloggers, it is not a rare occurrence when Seth Godin makes me think about the world a little differently. In his post this morning, he did the opposite, which is perhaps more profound: He confirmed how I already viewed the world. 

Godin argues that: 

The interim is forever, so perhaps it makes sense to… act in the interim as we expect to act in the long haul.

According to Godin, new organizations detrimentally overemphasize the short-term over the long-term, and in doing so, never grow into the organization they endeavor to become. During the “interim” stage, path dependency sets in, a culture develops, and the short-term strategy becomes entrenched. What was intended to be only short-term becomes long-term. 

In other words: 

A company that cuts corners and cuts throats at its onset will be a company that cuts corners and cuts throats five, ten, fifty years down the road. 

I believe this applies to people as well.

In other words:

Who you are now is a determinant of who you will be tomorrow.

Productivity "scholars" often argue that you should focus on ONE THING. In other words, you should focus on one goal at a time. But isn’t that a short-term strategy?

I want to succeed in my new position and grow my new company—and that is where most of my time and energy goes. But I have other goals: I want to write a book, and I want to grow this blog. They are, indeed, “secondary” goals. 

According to some, I should forget about these latter two goals. 

But what if writing the book or growing this blog is always a secondary goal? I would never do either. 

As I see it, if I want to be a person who is an active entrepreneur and writer-of-all-things, I have to be that person now, not down the road. 

The road is too uncertain for that. 

The "FOCUS ON ONE THING" advice is based on the assumption that time and energy are zero-sum. However, I have realized that this is not necessarily true.

Writing my book or this blog—even though I only spend one Pomodoro a day on each—energizes me for my other important tasks.

Three goals that should, in theory, conflict with one another… don’t. 

This Month in Productivity and In My Life

Been a few weeks since my last post. This is for a few reasons:

• I've been writing a guest post for one of my favorite productivity sites. (I'm letting the draft sit for a week before a final revision.)
• I moved from part-time to full-time at an early-stage start-up called eXlogue. (I'm really excited about this company. More on it later, but the goal is to become a global knowledge and skill exchange community. Everyone has something to teach and some service they could offer to others, and everyone has something to learn and some service they need... So why not trade? You can check out the website at exlogue.com, and feel free to sign up! We're still growing but there are great teachers offering *free* lessons in foreign languages, coding, productivity, law, test prep, fine arts, and even ballroom dancing!)
• Part of my job at eXlogue is writing blog posts. Between those and all my other writing activities, I often do not have enough words within me for this blog.  However, I've been able to get ahead of the game with the company blog, leaving me some words to play around with here.
• I began brainstorming plans for This Month In Productivity, a monthly newsletter I will be starting. The basic idea is to compile the month's best articles from top productivity websites (e.g., Asian Efficiency, Lifehacker, Productivityist, etc.), from lesser-known sites (e.g., joebuhlig.com is a new one I really like), as well as reviews of a book or two that I come across on Amazon. In many ways, this will perform the same function as my Twitter account--except on a monthly basis. I think there is a fair demand for this newsletter because, let's be honest, spending a few hours a day reading productivity stuff isn't always "productive." As Mike Vardy of Productivityist says, the goal is to BE productive, not DO productive. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter (the first will go out towards the end of the month), please sign up below, e-mail me at mjmottajr@gmail.com, or Tweet me at mjmottajr.

I have a few posts on the backburner that I am going to move to the frontburner ASAP, so check back in later in the week for a more substantive and actionable post. 

Thanks for reading! See you on Twitter.