The podcast had an author on who wrote a book called Indestractible and he gave some tips on how to focus. Like set a timer for ten minutes (to start) and for that time, you must focus on what you said you were working on. Gradually increase the time.
He also talked about time blocking versus the to do list. He said time blocking is the way to go, that studies have shown you're more productive with time blocking.
He's correct about this. Reading about these studies is why I tried to time block my schedule multiple times. It's never worked for me. I do much better with a To Do List.
He gave reasons why a To Do list wouldn't work as well as the time blocking. It all made sense, but it doesn't work for my brain.
Let's say I time block Saturday 2pm to 3pm to write blog posts for the upcoming week. Let's say it's noon and I feel like writing my blog posts now. I even have a couple of ideas for the blog posts, but my time block for noon to 1pm says I'm supposed to be doing something else. Do I do this other thing that I have penciled in to my schedule and wait to write my blogs?
But I'm excited to write my posts now. At 2pm, I might not have the same enthusiasm. I suppose I could swap the time blocks around, but I would be doing this constantly.
This is why I realistic To Do list works best for me--and it's taken a lot of trial and error to learn what is realistic and what's wishful thinking. Instead of time blocking, I have a list of things to accomplish on Saturday. Write Blog Posts is one of the items. So it's noon, I'm excited to write my blogs and I do. I cross it off my To Do list. Now I scan the list and see what else is on the agenda for the day.
I like the freedom to do what I need/want to do in any order on a given day. Not in the order I thought would work for me when I time blocked my day.
Time blocking my schedule makes me feel confined, squeezed, and I don't like it.
This is how it works for me. Time blocking apparently works for most people, I'm just not one of them.
As for distractions, yeah, I still deal with them and I will try some of his tips and tricks to handle those, but time blocking won't be one of them.
