Friday, April 16, 2010
How to Get More Work Done In Less Time
FreelanceFolder: Productivity is essential for freelancers. The more work we can accomplish, the more income we can earn. And the more time we have to enjoy with our family and friends. Therefore, time management is an important skill all freelancers should have.
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7 comments:
This seems like an interesting idea to try as a way to be more done. Breaking work down into 25 minute chunks seems like a reasonable amount of time to work on something before taking a small break. Perhaps I will try this technique this weekend with my remaining homework.
Time-chunking seems very useful- if you can manage to eliminate the interruptions. This method capitalizes on the short time that most people can intensely focus. About forty minutes is my personal maximum before my brain gets tired, and I am no longer working at maximum capacity. The fifteen minutes every two hours is another important milestone. Little breaks are good- but eating something and actively moving for those fifteen minutes, not just sitting at your desk doing those tasks that you wrote down, is essential. A complete separation from the work.
I think I'll try this technique. I'm always someone who gets so sucked into what I'm working on that all of the sudden, I look up and 4 hours have passed and I can barely move my back. I like this method because it seems like not only would it make me more aware of how much time I'm spending on something, but also force me to take better care of getting up and moving. 25 minute chunks seem really short to me, I might lengthen those chunks when working on some sort of art project. (For example, I spent the afternoon working on a model for drafting, and you can't walk away from that after 25 minutes if the glue hasn't dried--you have to hold it until it dries, or you start over.) But for anything on the computer 25 minutes sounds good. It also gives your eyes a rest. Usually the recommendation for not over-straining your eyes is to look up for 2-5 minutes every 20 minutes, so this sounds great for that.
This technique seems like it would work pretty well. I know that when I'm really focused on a certain task that the time it takes to complete that task is so much less. Time-chunking seems like it would be a pretty useful technique to practice. I've tried things like this before and I have really benefited from them even more than some of the other techniques that have been offered by some of the other articles in the past.
While time chunking might be effective, I feel that 25 minutes is not enough time. To me, you can't get much done in that much time. Especially because when you have such a minimal amount of time to work, with breaks, it becomes hard to get into a rhythm of productivity. Yes, breaks are important, but one should not take them so liberally.
I can openly admit that I am terrible at working in time-chunks. This is not to say that I am horrible at time management, but working in designated chunks of time stresses me out because I am constantly thinking about how much time I have left and if I can finish the task at hand before my time is out. It ends up being counter-productive, and I generally use the technique of taking breaks after a certain task is complete, regardless of the time, and then moving on to a separate task.
I saw this title and clicked on it because I figured if this article had figured it out, my world would be drastically changed for the better. Unfortunately, nothing new here. Chunking, which has been in almost every article written about time management, is very effective, only if it is useful. Taking breaks on a schedule is also something that is somehow overlooked, but is greatly important. I do however believe that focusing on a single issue at a time is very important, and this in company with chunking and taking breaks does allow for the time spent on a task to be used more efficiently.
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