What are your thoughts on timeboxing?

For those who don't know Timeboxing is a time management technique that helps improve productivity and overcome procrastination. To put it in a nutshell, instead of committing to a task until it's finished, you decide how long you're going to work on it. You set a timer and start working. When the timer rings, you take a break. Then the cycle repeats.

Ever since I found out about timeboxing from the AJATT site, I've been doing it often. I usually stick to a simple Pomodoro routine, but sometimes I use shorter intervals.

In language learning, timeboxing can be applied almost everywhere. It is most useful when there's a large number of SRS reviews to complete since those can be kind of boring. One can also use timeboxing to divide time when reading novels, manga, watching long TV shows or movies, or just as a general productivity tool.

I think a physical device, e.g., a kitchen timer, would be nice for timeboxing, but since I currently don't have one, I use a Bash script instead.

To learn more, read my article about timeboxing.

Tags: faq