There are some people in life who are super organised. They can tell you off the top of their head just how long a task is likely to take, how long they spent previously on something similar and how long they have allocated to the next one.
They have some form of organisational computer chip in their brain where they never forget a job, are able to prioritise effectively and can keep track of things effortlessly.
These people are (in my humble experience) very much in the minority.
The rest of us typically try to function using some form of ‘to do’ lists, that could be written in diaries, notepads, post-its or wherever handy.
Typically, we throw everything that needs done down on a page and cross it off as we go. Simple.
And for trivial things these can work very effectively. In a supermarket you simply cross off what you need and once they are all in the basket you check out.
However, there are certain problems with ‘to do’ Lists, especially when you have more complex tasks, ones that maybe don’t relate to one another or have varying degrees of importance.
- First of all, they present too many choices, all bunched together. This may discourage even starting any work at all.
- By nature, we like a sense of achievement, of having accomplished something. Accordingly, we tend to tackle the small tasks first, so we can say we have managed to complete a task. The issue here however is that small tasks are rarely the important ones.
- We are also rarely drawn (in a list) to the ‘important but not urgent’ tasks. So, at work things like completing an expense spreadsheet, then holding a 1-2-1 meeting, followed by drafting a contract for a new starter may mean that self-development takes a back seat. We know it’s important to try and maintain CPD, to keep on top of our game but when do we ever prioritise this on a list?
- Finally – lists don’t actually manage your time for you. They don’t tell you what time you have available or how much to allocate. Hence we pick things at random (or even start at the top and work down) and whatever time we finish, we finish, whether all the tasks are done or not. This is where items slip.
A good alternative is ‘Time-boxing’. Time-boxing is where you take your daily/weekly/monthly calendar and insert your ‘to do’ tasks into the time slots.
So, you know 3-4pm is budget review, 4-5pm is team meeting, 5-5.30pm is travel, 5.30-7pm is dinner and 7-9pm is gym time and so on.
It used to be that an outlook calendar would be filled only with meetings and annual leave. Now people are using it to keep track of all their important tasks. To Do lists have effectively been given time slots.
So rather than randomly working through a list, there is an organised plan, set lengths of times allocated and set times of day to work on specific items. This brings several benefits:
- It allows you to see the relative positioning of work. You can see what comes next and what comes before. That way you can plan accordingly: something physical, something mental, something relaxed.
- You become more thoughtful about what is important (and what isn’t) as you allocate your very precious time to it.
- You have more control. With lists you can get carried away. Maybe you get focused on one task and stick with that to the detriment of everything else. Time-boxing gives you a start and end point to move on.
- It can also help counteract Parkinson’s law (where work expands to fill the time available). So, where you may have previously dawdled and stretched out a menial task to take all afternoon, timeboxing clearly shows you when you need to move on to the next item.
- You have a more detailed record of what you have been doing and for how long. So if you need to justify your time or figure out how and when to plan a similar session, there is way more accurate data to help you do that.
- It works against the paradox of choice. Sometimes the more tasks you have to do, the more confused you get trying to figure out where to start and the less likely you are to get anything done. Too much choice can paralyse your action or cause you stress. Time-boxing allows you to plan and allocate accordingly, so that you can look forward to the day/week/month with a clear idea of what, where and when you need to do something. No choice is required.
Time-boxing won’t be for everyone and not everyone needs it. But if you have busy life, inside and outside of work and find it difficult to prioritise or get things finished it can be a very useful way to map your time out to start achieving what you set out to do.
All you need is list and a calendar!
