Are you hustling and bustling to get things done and there just never seems to be enough time to do it all – never mind even having a break!
How do you spend your time? What does most of your day look like? Thinking of the things you should be doing?
Well the science of time management could be a tool you would want to look into.
The Science Behind a To Do List
We usually attack our to do lists like warriors charge onto a battlefield slaying our way through the easiest tasks first, then onto the boring ones (or better said we procrastinate) to then be exhausted and too weak to take on the big bad boys at the end – the giant dragon of tasks…
So how do we fight this daily battle better, easier and with less battle wounds?
Firstly write a prioritised To-do list at the beginning or the end of the day – it makes your life a whole lot more streamlined and you have less things distracting you in your head because you have it all written down and can’t forget anything… This is how you design a battle plan after all isn’t it? Find out which opponent needs to be taken care of first to strategically take lead of the battle!
Secondly we need to make an action plan for battle. No good warrior can go on fighting dragons forever without taking a break. So here’s how science says you can tame the beast of time management:
Ever heard of the Pomodoro technique? Yes it sounds Italian and it is a vegetable but hear me out.
This technique implies that we can be super-efficient in 25 minute increments.
This 25 minute increment can help us focus so we can get a lot of things done because we are not overloading the brain!
Think of it this way if it is a task we don’t like so much we know there will be an end to it in 25 minutes. This is way better than thinking – “this is going to take hours I will do it later/tomorrow/next year/never…”
After 25 minutes you take a 5 minute break from whatever you are doing.
In this break you should do something that doesn’t engage the mind so much.
A few examples would be go for a walk, do some office yoga, arrange your desk, meditate or do breathing exercises, read a novel – whatever you want really.
Then return back to what you were doing if you aren’t finished yet and do another 25 min set of work/study/chores.
Try it out and don’t forget to set a 25 minute reminder!