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Using Time Boxing To Your Advantage

by Noah Walters

I want to share with you a scheduling technique that is new to me but has been around for many years: nowadays it's referred to as "Time Boxing". I was recently made aware of the concept through a virtual assistant (VA) forum I belong to and in more detail through two business associates of mine, and now that I've implemented and utilized it for the past several weeks - I want to tell you, it's great!Those of you that are familiar with me or my previous articles know that I am a huge fan of To Do Lists and Checklists. However, I admit that it never occurred to me to merge my lists with my daily calendar - which essentially is what Time Boxing is.

The concept is simple: block (or box) time on your calendar to complete projects and tasks. This will help you reach deadlines in a more organized fashion plus it helps you set aside time for other essential tasks. The key is to block time for everything you do including menial everyday tasks to reoccurring projects to family or "me" time. Block your entire day (if at all possible) so you get an honest feel for the time you truly have available. The results may surprise you!Time Boxing eliminates procrastination (for the most part) because it tells you when to begin working on an item on your To Do List. And it will help curb your perfectionist tendencies because when you find that you are locked on a project (a problem I battle with), it will tell you when it's time to stop and move on to something else.

As a virtual assistant, I have projects come in throughout the day. Some may take as little as five minutes to complete, others may take several hours to days to complete. In the past I have found that tasks which take just a few minutes to do seemed to get put off, waiting for something else for that client so it would take longer. Now, by using the time boxing, I may schedule 30 minutes from 9:00am to 9:30am to update Client A's contact manager with address changes and new people, post Client B's blog, and schedule Client C's ezine. Each task may take only a few minutes, but it's in my 30-minute block of time.

For larger projects, I may schedule an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon to work on creating the new PowerPoint presentation and handouts for Client D. And then an hour and a half to work on phone calls for Client E.I schedule my lunch time, and I also schedule break times. As I go through the day, I check off my task as I complete it. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to see those checks!At the end of the day, I go into my calendar, delete the time boxes I've finished, move to the next day the time boxes for the larger projects that I am continuing to work on, and add new time boxes for tasks that have come in throughout the day.Perhaps you find yourself out of the office a lot and having to return phone calls. Block off a period of time during the day to return those calls, or two periods of time if need be. Perhaps e-mails are eating into your productivity. Again, block off periods of time throughout the day to check e-mails and catch up on tweets if you're on Twitter.

However, my absolute favorite feature in Outlook is the Alarm! Oh what a lifesaver that is. I schedule every event with the alarm so that it will sound and tell me "Wrap up what you are doing and move on to the next task." Sometimes I get very involved in a task and hours will go by before I look at the clock again, so this is an excellent way to stop me in my tracks and keep me productive (or let me eat lunch!).I am happy to report that utilizing Time Boxing has really helped to improve my daily productivity especially since joining time-vampires such as Twitter and Facebook (which are necessary evils). Time Boxing keeps me focused and helps me accomplish more in an efficient manner. I love it and recommend it to everyone!



Learn more about <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVaXw2CR8ts"> Task Management Software </a> as well as <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXKUkYWSsfk"> Project Tracking Software </a> , now.

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New Unique Article!

Title: Using Time Boxing To Your Advantage
Author: Noah Walters
Email: konjakobliss@gmail.com
Keywords: Time Boxing,Task Management Software,Project Tracking Software,Managing Time,Time Management,software
Word Count: 723
Category: Marketing
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