Fighting Time — The Art of Winning Your Day

It’s January.

You are going to smash this year.

You’ve got your big hairy audacious goals in place.

Your vision boards, your mantras, your morning routines, all ready to go.

…

It’s now summer.

You’ve not made quite as much progress as you wanted.

And by that you mean you’ve made absolutely no progress and your goals for the year remain stubbornly out of reach.

This was me for a good long while and it was, to be frank, bloody annoying.

I think I’m a reasonably intelligent, resourceful human so why, when it came to the things I wanted most out of life, was I not able to make the type of progress I was seeing in my professional career?

In the Blue Corner…

The answer for me, and maybe for you, was timeboxing.

I’ve read a fair amount about productivity and I’ve no doubt you’ve seen the seemingly never-ending parade of methods, hacks and gurus with their systems. Each one promising to revolutionise how we work, focus and add value.

But all that noise simply confused me and left me feeling overwhelmed. It was only after reading Deep Work by Cal Newport that the notion of timeboxing seemed to resonate for me. And it’s genuinely been something of a personal game-changer since then.

The Tale as Old as Time and, er, Boxes

Let’s set the scene. It’s a typical Monday morning. You sit down at your desk, coffee in hand, gazing at your meticulously organised — if endless — to-do list.

I don’t know about you but for me that would feel a bit like standing at the foot of Everest in flip-flops.

Enter timeboxing, the method that asks you to assign a fixed, immovable box of time for each task. It’s like giving each task a strict appointment, as if your to-do list were suddenly populated by a bunch of punctual, no-nonsense doctors.

The Great Experiment

Meet Nathaniel.

He’s a typical worker bee in the corporate hive, trying to add a little value.

Nathaniel’s to-do list was like a Hydra — chop one head off, and two more sprouted in its place.

Then he discovered timeboxing.

Each task was given a specific slot in the day — no more, no less.

Suddenly, Nathaniel’s day had structure, like a well-organised wardrobe where everything has its place, and there’s no risk of a beanie avalanche when you open the door (self-confessed slouchy beanie addict here).

For years Nathaniel had suffered from an acute case of procrastination — the arch-nemesis of productivity. It lurks in the shadows, always ready to pounce.

But timeboxing has something of a superpower.

By boxing tasks into specific time slots, it turns abstract tasks into concrete actions. It’s like telling procrastination, “Not today bruv. We’ve got shit to do!”

And I like that.

I like it a lot.

Timeboxing also pours cold water on another very common misconception when it comes to productivity — the mythical unicorn known as multitasking.

I liken it to a mythical beast as personally it’s been much talked about but never seen. Maybe you have a brain that can apply simultaneous, equal focus and rigour to multiple tasks and projects.

In which case I salute you.

I definitely do not.

For me it’s was always like trying to ride two horses at once; you end up in a muddle in the middle.

Timeboxing promotes a one-task-at-a-time approach, bringing a monk-like focus to your work. It’s about doing one thing well, rather than ten things poorly.

The bubble-wrap effect

There’s a unique joy in ticking off tasks.

With timeboxing, this joy is amplified. Each ‘timebox’ you complete feels like a mini victory.

Like the satisfaction of popping bubble wrap, it’s apparently simple yet inexplicably pleasing.

Timeboxing in Practice

So, how do you implement timeboxing?

It’s simpler than assembling flat-pack furniture, thankfully.

Start by estimating how long each task will take. Then, assign a specific time slot for it in your day.

And here’s the kicker — when the time’s up, you move on.

It’s a bit like speed dating with your tasks.

The Flexibility Paradox

Now you might be thinking that such rigidity would be stifling.

Absolutely a valid concern.

However there’s a strange flexibility within timeboxing.

It forces you to be realistic about what can be achieved in a day, like having an honest chat with your over-ambitious self. Sure, you can’t do everything, but what you do, you’ll do well.

The Watchful Eye of the Clock

There’s also an accountability to timeboxing.

The clock acts as a silent overseer, gently nudging you along.

It’s a friendly nudge though, rather than the overbearing boss breathing down your neck.

This type of healthy pressure can dramatically enhance focus and efficiency.

Timeboxing: The Undisputed Champ

To wrap up then timeboxing isn’t the flashiest tool in the productivity toolbox.

It doesn’t have the bedazzling and trappings of some of the OMG ultimate#productivity#life#hack methods.

And in that apparent void is its value. Its very simplicity is the real basis of its power.

So, if you find yourself drowning in a sea of tasks, why not give timeboxing a try? It might just be the life raft you need.