time

Time management techniques tend to focus on making us, well, focus on doing one thing at a time. And that may work for many, if not most. And it may be a necessary approach at times. But there are alternatives... Read on to find out about one that you thought you'd never hear about.

What if you start a project (project A) and then suddenly get inspired about another project (project B) and as you start working on that project, you suddenly feel absolutely compelled to work on that report you've been meaning to get to (project C). And then, once you've just started to make some headway, project A beckons all over again.

Sounds like a mess to most people, doesn't it? But some people work that way. And while they may or may not manage to complete their projects right then and there, there is a way to approach things that way -- but in a somewhat more purposeful fashion, and actually get a lot done -- and completing the projects eventually.

How so?

Here are four principles you have to keep in mind if you want to make this serial work flow method work for you:

1) Stop beating yourself up over it

Stop feeling guilty or ashamed about your supposed lack of organizational willpower. Do you have any idea how much that alone would rob you of energy and your ability to get things done?

2) Stop losing work you've already done

The biggest problem with the serial approach is that we often forget where we were last time we worked on whatever it was. That is a big productivity killer. But it doesn't have to be that way. Yes, it will take a bit of discipline, but you should find it relatively easy to come up with it since the reward will be that you can then move on to the next project -- guilt-free!

What do you have to do? Make sure you leave that last project in a place where you can pick up where you left off. So make sure you a) find it again, and b) tie up lose ends/thoughts in a visible way -- i.e., write down what you did and where you left off and what needs to be done next.

3) Benefit of your brain's weird wanderings

I am not kidding. Our brain is designed in weird and wonderful ways. It does its thing even -- and especially -- while we're doing something else. So while you've put project A aside for the time being, you may get a brilliant idea for it right when you're supposedly doing something else. Write it down! Accept that your brain works that way. In fact, embrace it. And schedule maybe 3 projects together that you can alternate between until you're done. If you finish one of them, phase in another project in its slot.

4) Keep things interesting and fast paced

Arranging projects into this serial pattern can keep otherwise boring tasks quite interesting since you'll be switching back and forth between them and won't have to do any of them for longer than you feel like it.

So instead of beating yourself up, harness your brain's unique ability to do things in a serial rather than an all-at-once way. Many projects are too big to be completed all at once anyway. So why not break them down, and alternate tasks. One task for project A, one for project B, one for project C, and repeat. You may be amazed at how much you get done. It may not be the most conventional time management technique, but it may well work for you and help you get even the most tedious jobs done -- eventually.

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