![]() ![]() You might not see it immediately, but timers are about building habits and honoring boundaries. But more than that, you also must agree on what will happen when you actually honor the boundary you’re setting with your timer. The only way the timer will work for you is if you and your timer agree on what is going to happen when the beeper goes off. ![]() The timer is your tool it’s not an authority. These are valid questions, but they leave out one key component to using a timer. Whenever I mention to friends and family that I use timers to help stay on task while working, often the reaction I get is, “How can you stand the ticking clock?” Or, also frequently, “What happens if you’re not ready to move on when the timer goes off?” We all have those days, too.) Timers Set Boundaries… For Yourself (It’s equally helpful on days when I feel like I can take everything on at once. Tough workdays are the ones I find myself using the timer most. It’s outside me and will keep ticking regardless, to keep me on track. In these moments, when the part of my brain that kicks into gear when stuff needs to get done is too tired to come into work, there’s always the timer. The days when things are just hard and you can’t figure out how you’ll manage to get through it. We all have low executive functioning days. Take a deep breath in and out, put some trust in the timer - and in yourself. Maybe you can’t control what happens in the next 24 hours, but you can decide what you’re going to do for the next 20 minutes. What can one do when even basic decision-making feels difficult? The timer can’t do the deep in-and-out breathing for you, but it can make the day feel less overwhelming. That is, I have too many thoughts, too many things to do, and too many needs all colliding in my mind that I must wrangle before I can even get started on anything. There are certain days however where my executive functioning is subpar at best. This turns out to be just as true when it comes to time, that it can feel more expansive and less overwhelming when you break it down into smaller time blocks. As we often say at Productive Flourishing, when you break your projects down into chunks, it’s much more manageable to get things done. It’s empowering to feel that I’m keeping track of time so I don’t sit around mindlessly all day long. Part of what makes using a timer so helpful is it makes you in charge of your time, rather than the other way around. If I only have space in my brain for a 30-minute admin block, I set a timer and get done what I can. If I need to get something done but know that I really enjoy sitting on the couch, I set a timer to remind myself to get up in 20 minutes. I am now officially one of those people who uses a timer for just about everything. ![]()
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