Reason #4: A timer helps me do what I’m dreading.
One of my favorite stories to share about how a timer has helped me was when I was the board chair of a non-profit organization. It had been decided that the organization needed to redo its charter. A subcommittee did the work and then gave it to me for review prior to our next full board meeting. Reading pages of text, especially legalese-type writing, is one of my least favorite things to do. As in, I think I might rather have a root canal. (I’ve had one and it was awful!) Just trying to paint a picture here of how much I did NOT want to read that charter and how every day for several weeks I thought, “I really need to read that.” only to keep putting it off. It was like a black cloud following me around.
Eventually, the board meeting was approaching, and my time for procrastinating was nearly up. To motivate myself, I decided I would set a timer and spend 30 minutes each day reading the charter until I finished. That way the task wouldn’t be so consuming, and the awful-ness would be more tolerable. Can you guess how long it took me to read the whole charter? Yep. 30 minutes. Total.
The moral of the story: I spent more time dreading and fretting about the task than it actually took me to complete it! Even if it had taken me a few rounds of 30-minutes to get through it, chipping away at it in segments would have saved me time and mental energy in the long run.
So, when there is work you have to do but dread doing it, figure out how you can break it up into manageable chunks. Then, set a timer and find relief in knowing that you’ll get to move on to something else when the timer is up.
If you miss one of the parts to my Summer Series, you can find it along with other A-ha! tips on our blog.
One of my favorite timers (right) is from Time Timer, a company in Cincinnati. In future newsletters, I’ll be sharing more about how helpful this timer can be in the workplace. If you’d like to pick one up, you can find it, along with some of my other favorite resources, on our Products page.
