Yes, you heard me right, an egg timer
. I use mine all of the time. If you are like me, you tend to spend much more time doing one thing than needed. For instance, I used to spend hours checking my email, because I would get caught up, click on a link go check something out, and never get ‘back to work’. Surfing forums, breaks, etc. Can all run longer than expected. Sooooo, I use my handy dandy egg timer and set it for whatever time I think I need to do the task, then when the timer goes off I can quickly re-evaluate what I am doing, If I have been sitting there checking email and surfing for an hour, I can put myself back on track. If for some reason it is taking me longer than I expected to write a post, I can take a quick break (set the timer again) and then go back to it. Sometimes walking away is just what you need to get the job done right.
My husband even started using the timer, when he wakes up in the morning, the first thing he does is set it for an hour, that way if he falls asleep on the couch, or gets into a news program, he will not be late (he used to fall back asleep on the couch every morning! LOL)
I first started using egg timers back when I began using FlyLady.net, she insists that you can get most anything done in 15 minutes, I believe it too, just try it, set the timer for 15 minutes the next time you go to do the dishes, unless you have not dine dishes in a while, yo should be done before the timer goes off. She has a great site with great tips on cleaning, but this is about time management, so you will have to check out her site on how to clean! That is not my specialty! LOL
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on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 3:56 pm in Time Management |
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Eve, that’s a great tip! I also tend to get sidetracked when I should be working (I guess that’s one of the perils of working online), and have really benefited from the use of a timer.
I don’t have an egg timer, but I found a “countdown clock” widget on Yahoo widgets. I set the clock for the amount of time I think a task should take (like 20 minutes or whatever) and then the clock starts counting down. I feel that I get more work done when I’m “racing against the clock” like this! — J.E.
Forums are the worst for this, its so easy to browse around and before you know it an hours gone by, great tips.
I picked up the egg timer tip from fly lady too! Probably the only thing I learned from her, I’m a fly lady drop out ~ TWICE! lol
that sounds like a great idea. At work I use a little clock all the time and have to keep checking it, but a timer would be ideal so that way I don’t spend so much time on one project and neglect all the others. Thanks
What a great advice! I should start doing that! I always coplain at the end of the day that I haven’tdone anything!
Thanks!
That’s an excellent advice. I so need something like that. I’d even love to have it at my workplace but I guess it would soon get awkward if it was always ringing…
Great tip Eve. Thanks for that. I don’t think I’ve ever owned an egg timer though. I might go and buy one or maybe use the hideous alarm on my cell phone that I use as an alarm clock each morning.
My husband uses the timer on our oven for everything. Washing clothes, watering the lawn… even cooking! It works really well.
Glad you like it! I am in love with mine! It really does help. :-)
I used to hate unloading the dishwasher, so one day I timed it. It took me less than 3 minutes. I stopped balking about it!!!
Great tip! I know I am one to get tied up doing a bunch of mothing too. I actually expressed some of those sentiments in my post titled “10 Commandments of Surefire Home Business Success”. You can find it at: http://www.ben-means-business.com/2007/04/10-commandments-of-surefire-home.html. Best wishes and keep it up. Your blog is great!
I use an online counter/timer to clock the time I spend on my feedreader - but an eggtimer sounds better. Should grab pne
Great idea, thanks, I’m going to try it. I have alarms for my errands but not for computer work.
[…] Tips on making a Home Office Schedule August 21, 2007 at 4:12 pm | In Organization | Scheduling your day is just as important in home business as any other business. I usually block out slots of time for each project I work on. For instance, I aim to check and reply to all email and comments from 8am to 9am. While that doesn’t always work, there are times where I need more than an hour, or even less, depending on the day, I just move to my next task and work on that. I use an egg timer to help remind me that an hour has gone by. This way if I started out checking my mail, and end up shopping the timer goes off and reminds me to get back to work! (It has happened! LOL) For more info on my Egg Time strategy, read this article. […]
Thankyou for this great tip, Im terrible for tidying up and I think the egg timer method will really help me. I have so much clutter and find it hard to motivate myself in between my split shifts at work so im sure this will work a treat!
Hi, I applaud your blog for informing people, very interesting article, keep up it coming