Hello
I thought this was interesting.
The "time management expert" Allyson Lewis of The7MinuteLife.com(*) builds everything around the 7 minute window.
So whereas David Allen likes us to break Projects down in to Actions that can be done in one sitting, Lewis says that the window of distraction is surprisingly short - just 7 minutes!
Here's what Lewis says:
1. We have a concentration span of between 2 and (max) 20minutes before we are susceptible to distraction. On average 7mins is a good target for any of use - even for anyone who is 'distractable' (ADD/ADHD etc).
2. Therefore in order to beat distraction, we should break all our projects tasks down into "Micro-Tasks" that can be done in 7 minutes.
3. It's good to use a timer (on smartphone or kitchen timer) to time those 7 minutes, to help get into the habit of not being distracted, not over-running and above all to build the habit all not failing(!).
4. Planning time
e.g. Each evening we should spend 7 minutes choosing "What is my goal for tomorrow" (no distractions - use timer!)
e.g. Each morning we should break that goal down into Micro-Tasks (c. 7minutes long each)
5. She recommends writing down 5 Micro-Tasks (each 7mins long) that you commit to as being your top priority for the day. Yes you hope to complete other stuff, but you absolutely commit to doing all of those 7 tasks - or at the very least spending a full 7 minutes attempting to complete them
I also quite like her idea of having a "Daily Progress Report" card that you fill in for each day. This not only contains psychological triggers for routine stuff (e.g. drinking 8 glasses of water, getting X hours of sleep, meals at correct/sensible times etc) and it also allows you to get immediate feedback and "reward yourself" with points. Paper is a good medium because unlike digital it can't readily be rubbed out so constitutes a form of pre-commitment.
Also using piece of paper for each day also allows you to get to the point where you have done enough for today i.e. "get to enough" and then relax. As over time it can be very psychologically damaging to lead our entire lives feeling we "don't have enought time".
Personally I know that I can SOMETIMES concentrate for 20 minutes maybe even a full hour, but by aiming too high I often fall off the track. No doubt we are all different, but I know that in hind sight using 25 minute "pomodoros" was quite hard for me and I lost too many battles with distraction and eventually abandoned it.
Any thoughts?
J
(*) Her site is The7MinuteLife.com - although the website was broken this morning!
I thought this was interesting.
The "time management expert" Allyson Lewis of The7MinuteLife.com(*) builds everything around the 7 minute window.
So whereas David Allen likes us to break Projects down in to Actions that can be done in one sitting, Lewis says that the window of distraction is surprisingly short - just 7 minutes!
Here's what Lewis says:
1. We have a concentration span of between 2 and (max) 20minutes before we are susceptible to distraction. On average 7mins is a good target for any of use - even for anyone who is 'distractable' (ADD/ADHD etc).
2. Therefore in order to beat distraction, we should break all our projects tasks down into "Micro-Tasks" that can be done in 7 minutes.
3. It's good to use a timer (on smartphone or kitchen timer) to time those 7 minutes, to help get into the habit of not being distracted, not over-running and above all to build the habit all not failing(!).
4. Planning time
e.g. Each evening we should spend 7 minutes choosing "What is my goal for tomorrow" (no distractions - use timer!)
e.g. Each morning we should break that goal down into Micro-Tasks (c. 7minutes long each)
5. She recommends writing down 5 Micro-Tasks (each 7mins long) that you commit to as being your top priority for the day. Yes you hope to complete other stuff, but you absolutely commit to doing all of those 7 tasks - or at the very least spending a full 7 minutes attempting to complete them
I also quite like her idea of having a "Daily Progress Report" card that you fill in for each day. This not only contains psychological triggers for routine stuff (e.g. drinking 8 glasses of water, getting X hours of sleep, meals at correct/sensible times etc) and it also allows you to get immediate feedback and "reward yourself" with points. Paper is a good medium because unlike digital it can't readily be rubbed out so constitutes a form of pre-commitment.
Also using piece of paper for each day also allows you to get to the point where you have done enough for today i.e. "get to enough" and then relax. As over time it can be very psychologically damaging to lead our entire lives feeling we "don't have enought time".
Personally I know that I can SOMETIMES concentrate for 20 minutes maybe even a full hour, but by aiming too high I often fall off the track. No doubt we are all different, but I know that in hind sight using 25 minute "pomodoros" was quite hard for me and I lost too many battles with distraction and eventually abandoned it.
Any thoughts?
J
(*) Her site is The7MinuteLife.com - although the website was broken this morning!