3 Tips for When Your Overload Is On Overdrive...
It's true confessions time…
Does your life feel unreasonably busy? Do you work your tail off each day... but still feel like you’re never doing enough?
🙋🙋🙋 There's a big, ol' chorus of people who feel this way.
So many of us live in a constant state of fear and distress that no matter how hard we push, we’re still not doing enough.
But what if you are?
And what if there's another paradigm of productivity just waiting to be discovered? One that allows you to do less and actually create more — more meaningful results, more happiness, and more wellbeing?
Well you're in luck, because today I'm sharing a quick list of three ways you can create stellar results with the science of time blocking.
I come to this topic honestly...having field tested it in a few ways during the last several years. (After spending years as an elite athlete in the sport of procrastination, natch.)
I use it weekly in my co-working sessions with my accountability partner.
I share it freely in my work with a major health care system.
And I breezed through completing my MPH master's thesis (while completing a course overload) using this technique.
My own experiences forced me to wonder, “Who else needs to know this info to overcome some of our most commonly held beliefs about time, work, and productivity?!” 🤔
You! That's who.
Here are three smart, research-backed strategies to help you achieve more of what matters, without the overload and burnout.
Pomodoro Method: One of the most common ways to master your time is to be more conscious of scheduling breaks—especially when you’re busy—to force you to work in small bursts. The Pomodoro Technique is perfect for this. Just set a timer for 25 minutes and, when it goes off, take a short break for five minutes. Stretch your legs, grab a drink, or just sit back and relax. After you’ve done four Pomodoro sessions, take a longer break of 30 minutes. Working in such compact time periods helps you get rid of distractions and focus more intently, perhaps even with a small sense of urgency to close out of tasks and make decisions more quickly.
90-minute Blocks: Want more time to dig in? Working in 90-minute intervals has long been a favorite method for maximizing productivity because it works with our bodies’ natural rhythms (i.e., ultradian rhythms). Sleep researchers first discovered the 90-minute pattern while studying the cycles by which we progress into sleep–but it persists when we’re awake, too, as we move from higher to lower levels of alertness. Research into elite performers also verified the 90-minute session is optimal.
The 52-17 Method: A third option is to split the difference between Pomodoro and 90-minute blocks with what recent research indicates could be the most productive schedule of all. Researchers have learned the most productive people work for 52 minutes at a time, then break for 17 minutes before getting back to it. The comparatively short periods of working time enable you to work with intense purpose, then rest to prepare yourself for the next burst.
Now that you've got science on your side, give time blocking a test drive in your life and see what it can do for your results, happiness, and wellbeing. And, if you think of it, let me know what you discover by sharing in the comments below. :)
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