Be Your Best

Todd Gifford - Success Coach

Several different highly successful business people I admire and respect all have mentioned to me in the past that they use a simple and inexpensive tool that can have a substantial impact on your results.  I listened to them and actually now have 4-5 of these cheap little tools sitting at all the places where I tend to do work from.  That tool is a household kitchen timer that you can pick up at any store for about 7 bucks.  So, how can a kitchen timer positively impact your business results?

A bunch of different ways:

Improved Brain Performance—it is well documented that your most productive time is in the morning.  It is known that your brain can focus hard non-stop effectively for about 50 minutes to 1 hour at a time before your ’brain power’ performance severely drops off and needs some rest to rejuvenate.  Unfortunately, most of us get in to work, open up email, check messages, and do not pay much attention to the time being allocated.  By using a kitchen timer that counts down, you can set 60 minutes on the clock, and begin to become aware of when you need to take a quick break to allow your mind to rest a bit.  All that is required is to take a couple minutes break from the project being focused on, maybe have a quick snack, and you are ready to go again at max potential.  It is not uncommon for most of us to go 3 hours straight without any concept of time and without taking a quick break to let our brain rejuvenate.  I know this sounds a little odd having a timer going monitoring your own time, but trust me, it works.

Improved Concentration Skills—It is also well documented in studies that the average person can focus on one single topic for only about 2.5 minutes.  The reason is that we have trained our brains to jump from one topic to the next constantly though out the day because of all the incoming information and distractions coming at us.  The really bad news is that it has also been documented through studies that it takes between 5 and 20 minutes to refocus on a project after we have been distracted from it.  There is a huge amount of wasted time during the day or week just from being distracted from a key task or project, trying to get back into it again. 

The kitchen timer tool helps significantly to ‘chunk’ focus time and make you aware of how long you are actually staying focused on a given topic.  For example, I use the timer to set a certain amount of time that I am going to put 100% undistracted focus on a given task or project that has to be completed.  When I start the timer to count down, it creates a heightened awareness of my focus and forces accountability to stay focused and not allow myself to get distracted.  What happens over time is this tool begins to train you to be able to stay more focused for longer periods of time.  More focus and longer focus intensity = greater results.

Artificial Deadlines—we all know that deadlines get things done.  Unfortunately, if something does not have a deadline, it can get pushed off to the side and procrastinated on.  It is also a fact that deadlines actually cause people to become more efficient, because people tend to make quicker decisions and process information faster when there is an imminent deadline in front of them.  I use the kitchen timer tool as a method of creating artificial deadlines in order to get more done.  For example, I may have a project in front of me that I need to get done due to importance, but potentially no urgent deadline (Important, but not Urgent).  Ironically, these Important/non-urgent projects are many times the biggest impact projects you can work on to create extraordinary results vs. all the urgent stuff being thrown at you.  Anyway, for a project like this, I take my timer and punch in 50 or 60 minutes, and hit go.  Mentally, I am now on the clock, and it is counting down.  Not only do I go into undistracted focus mode, but I have mentally established a deadline, and I am trying to complete as much of that project as I can in that 50/60 minutes.  Even if I do not finish, I can tell that I complete much more of the project than I thought was possible in that timeframe.

Realization of how much time you have—since I started using the kitchen timer to block out chunks of the day, I have become much more aware and sensitive to how long things actually take, and how precious the time during the day is.  Most things take longer that I ’think’ they should take in almost every situation.  You begin to be more careful with your time and have a greater respect for the value of undisturbed time as you put yourself on the timer.  What this does is train you to protect your valuable time and work towards maximizing that time.  One result of this is gaining more control over the early part of your day, when your brain is at its highest productivity level.

Increased Efficiency of Meetings—something I backed into by using the timer was how it can make meetings or conference calls much more efficient.  In certain meetings, I use the timer to set the maximum amount of time the meeting should take, and then start it counting down.  By doing this, everyone in the meeting becomes more acutely aware that there is a fixed amount of time and that it is ticking away.  Instant productivity booster!  Then, as the time winds down, it forces you to move on to key agenda points knowing you  only have X minutes left.  Just like a time clock at a basketball game—when the time is out, the game is over.

It’s pretty effective.  Give it try and test it.  Some people may look at you funny at first, but the results are worth it.  It may be the most powerful $7.00 tool you can find for improving business results.

Be Your Best.
Take Care,
Todd Gifford