Do It For 15 Minutes--or 90?

I am a big fan of Flylady, a cheerful, encouraging program to help overwhelmed procrastinators stay on top of housework and other home maintenance tasks. One of Flylady's mantras is "just do it for 15 minutes, and then switch to something else. You can do anything for 15 minutes." This is meant to combat the dread of working on an unpleasant task for a long period of time, and also to prevent burnout. I have often used this tactic to good effect when cleaning the house or doing other chores--15 minutes to clean in the kitchen, then reset the timer and spend 15 minutes on folding laundry, etc. I like variety, so this works well for me.

Recently I read an article by Steve Pavlina (I've been spending a lot of time on his site lately) called "Do It Now," in which he suggests working in 90-minute blocks. He elaborates:

"When you sit down to work on a particularly intense task, dedicate blocks of time to the task during which you will not do anything else. I've found that a minimum of 90 minutes is ideal for a single block....The state of flow, where you are totally absorbed in a task and lose all sense of time, takes about 15 minutes to enter. Every time you get interrupted, it can take you another 15 minutes to get back to that state."

Both of these approaches--the 15-minute one and the 90+ minute one--sound reasonable, but obviously they are incompatible. So how can you use both to your advantage?

After giving it some thought, I decided that working in 15-minute blocks is best for tasks like housework--things that require more physical energy than mental focus, and things that you have to do rather than want to do. The longer block is more useful for work which primarily requires mental energy and is part of what you have chosen to do with your life. For me, website design would fall into this category.

Now, personally, I don't think I have the same trouble dealing with interruptions as Mr. Pavlina has--especially if it's a little thing like letting the dog out. But I do know that it takes me a little while to get absorbed in a project, and so it's beneficial to set aside a longer block of time for activities that I want to get absorbed in. (Unloading the dishwasher is not one of them.)

Your mileage may vary, however. It's generally a good idea to experiment with different time-management techniques to see what works best for YOU.

Is Facebook a Waste of Time?

Yesterday when I set up my productivity scaffolds, I put in a note that I was not going to look at Facebook until my work was done for the day. I stuck to this, and I actually did not miss it. I realized at the end of the day that I could go ahead and see what all my Facebook friends had been up to, but I did not feel the craving to look at it like I often have in the past. I looked through the news feed, sent a gift to a friend who's having a birthday soon, and then moved on to another website.

I think Facebook is great for keeping up with people, but I decided I need to set some guidelines for myself to keep it from being a time-waster. This involves:

1. Deciding what value I want to get out of Facebook
2. Limiting my participation to activities that give me that value

For the first, my primary value is to interact and keep up with friends. Activities that do that involve wall posts, exchanging gifts, joining some groups, and updating my profile. Activities that do not fit that value include taking silly quizzes, playing trivia games, and reading about groups that have interesting names but no relevance to my life.

This simple method can work for any website or activity that you feel is a time-waster. Ask yourself what value you want to get from it, and then limit your activities to things that produce that value.

Scaffolds for Productivity

I read an interesting post on Steve Pavlina's blog about creating your own "scaffolds for productivity" to help you focus on your work. It is just another word for routines that get you in the work mood. He had samples of his posted, and here are the ones I created for myself:

Starting Work Routine
Pray for guidance and working "as unto the Lord" (5 min)
Review long term plans/priorities (5 min)
Identify priorities for the day (10 min)
Write what I expect to get done (5 min)
Make/review list of "next steps" (no more than 15 min. each) for priorities (10 min)
Walk and visualize myself doing each "next step" (10 min)
Sit down and begin working
NO PERSONAL EMAIL UNTIL MEAL BREAK, NO FACEBOOK UNTIL END OF WORKDAY

Ending Work Routine
Make list of what I accomplished, as well as notes about what to do next (10 min)
Straighten desk/office (10 min)
Pray to thank God for helping me work (5 min)

I have several reasons behind creating the steps I did. They include:

-Aligning myself with God's will and ways (praying)
-Getting my mind on work (priorities and goals, putting off personal time until later)
-Overcoming procrastination ("next steps" list)
-Creating a distinction between preparing to work and actually working (walking and visualizing)

I have not tried these routines out yet, but I will start tomorrow. I should be able to use this whether I have a whole day to work at home or just a few hours. If some steps don't help, I can modify them.

I already know that following my standard morning routine as soon as I get up (shower, dress, breakfast) helps me feel more motivated to work than if I linger over breakfast in my pajamas. So this will be an extension of that routine, happening after I turn my computer on.