The Justifiable way to procrastinate while you’re working: Time Boxing!

Bill ‘windows BSOD’ Gates. Mark ‘Meta-verse’ Zuckerberg, and you… all you love to procrastinate at your work time. You search for reasons, to do it justifiably. So here’s it. The way, which gives you the maximal way to procrastinate, and stays productive with a time boxing.

Is it possible? Of course n… yes! And it is called Time-Boxing… Or might we say wrong, and it is called Time-Blocking? Doesn’t matter. Much more important is that it really works. So here you’ll find:

1. Fundamentals of Procrastination and Principles of Time-blocking.
2. Science justifies Time-Blocking (by Parkinson).
3. The facts are that time boxing is harder than it looks.
4. Planning, Breaking Plans and creating new plans.

And many other helpful, or useless information. We warn you that this type of organization requires your discipline, because it is an advanced method, and doesn’t work for newbies in the optimization of productivity!

So let’s stop wasting your time, and follow to the next block of time boxing.

Just a definition of time boxing

The time boxing (aka time blocking) is a method of organization, which is based on separating all your tasks and relaxing time for blocks. You put these blocks, and attach them to a tough time. Then you follow them and do the task in the estimated time. If a task is not done, you just switch to another task.

Usually, blocks, are separated for:

1. 30-50 minutes for a task.
2. 10-15 minutes to relax.
3. 90 minutes for estimation point.

Sounds interesting? With time for procrastination? Ok, the devil hides in details, let’s observe it more concretely!

Science B….! Parkinson recommends!

Ok, why has Time-blocking become so popular? Simple, because many people are procrastinating, and psychologists tell us, what the work spends all the time, which you leave for it.

So the blocking is in that you:

1. Toughly separate your time for different tasks.
2. Leave a place for relaxing, to concentrate more on tasks later.
3. Create your micro deadlines, which you strive to don’t crap up.

So if you have a small discipline, this really works like a hack. It’s similar to working time in the office, but here you create your plan for the day.

There are two ways to time boxing.

1. Hard;
2. Soft.

What differs them from each other? Ok, the hard mode has strong estimations. It doesn’t matter if you finished a previous task or not. It works with lazy workers. And the software is more complicated and flexible. Here you do not have a strong estimation, and you don’t feel that you are limited in something.

So science tells us, if you have a limit to do something, you’ll do it faster. But there are no words for quality!

Why doesn’t it work for you?

As you found in the theory block, all look clearly simple. Separate your time work for blocks. Follow them, from time to time delay them, and all would go fine… But?

First and prime, it’s hard to be so disciplined in following these rules. In a few days, you’ll break them, and all goes crap.

Second, it is still essential that not all depend only on your discipline. You can learn more about the planning fallacy.

And third, but not less important, is that you can’t accurately calculate estimations if you are not a pro in time boxing.

So does this method work? Yup. But does it work for you? We doubt it!

Other ways to organize your work without time boxing

As you already found. Time Boxing requires less discipline from you, not less discipline than real boxing. So if you are not sure about your own powers and controls, you can try other organization methods, like:

1. GTD.
2. Weekly planning.
3. KanBan methods.

And many others. Description of all of them, you may find in our blog. So stop wasting your time, and go and learn something new.

Ok, if you are still not sure about the best method of optimizing your working processes, you may try our application. It can’t solve all your troubles. But on the other hand, it offers you:

1. Different hacks for optimizing your working process.
2. Many planning instruments.
3. Organizer, and other useful things.

And it perfectly works for team projects. All in one. All you need is to install the pomodizer!