There are so many things in my life that I can accomplish if I know I have a deadline. 

If I need to be at work at a certain time, I set a timer for when I need to leave to get there with enough time to fight traffic, find a parking spot, and schlep all my crap from the car to the office. If I am throwing a party, I know exactly what time guests will show up so I know how long I have to stash all my kid’s crap in closets and cabinets. Kidding. Kind of.

I have friend, let’s call her Tina, who wanted to apply for victim’s rights benefits through the state. Without getting too much into her business, she was a victim of a crime and suffers severely from PTSD and anxiety and she mentioned wanting to find out if she was eligible for the benefits offered by the state. She hemmed and hawed over it, not really being driven to get the paperwork done. I mean, I don’t blame her, have you ever tried to work with a government agency on any level. They don’t make anything easy, not to mention, she would be reliving her trauma by applying for this.

“Do it by your birthday.” I told her matter-of-factly. 

“What?” Tina asked me.

“Your birthday is coming up. Set that deadline. Don’t go into another year of life without checking this off your list.” I told said. 

I know that for myself, if there is a daunting task that needs to be done and I’m dragging my heals on it, a little accountability and a good deadline will light a good fire under my butt to get the thing done.

This tool even works for my 4 year old.

No, I’m not comparing Tina to my 4 year old, but here’s something we can all learn from my stubborn little guy.

Maverick’s job in the evenings is to pick up all the toys in the living room and put them away in the crates on the bookshelf. Or at least put them in a pile near the bookshelf. As long as there aren’t toys all over the floor when we all go to bed, I call it a win.

A few nights ago, I told him he needed to start picking up the toys because it was almost time for bed and he did NOT want to pick up even one toy. He complained that there were just so many toys and it wasn’t fair that his little sister had pulled all the toys out and made a huge mess but didn’t have to pick up anything.

So I made it a challenge. 

I asked him if I could time him to see how super fast he was because I just knew that he was the fastest toy picker upper there was. And it worked.

I’m going to be honest, I’m still a little in awe at how simple and genius this idea is. You have to know your kid, but this one LOVES a good competition.

I set the timer (similar to this one) and he began racing around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get every last toy picked up. My husband and I were pointing out spots he had missed and he would race over and pick the toy up and race it back to the toy crate.

It took him 2:07 to pick up every toy and book there was in the room. You know what I’ll be doing from now on? Seeing if he can beat his time. The game must go on!

I have the added bonus, now, of using this time against him when he starts to complain. 

“It doesn’t take that long, less than 3 minutes to pick up everything. I’ll even help by picking up daddy’s stinky socks!”

There is some science behind setting hard deadlines and timers for short term tasks. Enter: the Pomodoro Method and Parkinson’s Law.

Parkinson’s Law states that “Work expands so as to fill the time available for it’s completion” or that tasks take exactly how long you allow for them to take. 

This is true in some cases, but only if you are realistic with your time projection. Obviously, a pregnant woman can’t grow a baby in just a month because she hates being pregnant. Cleaning an entire home won’t happen in 3 minutes if you have 3200 square feet and 4 kids (trust me).

The Pomodoro Method was created by Francesco Cirillo and prompts participants to time block their tasks into 25x5 minute increments. Work on one task, very focused, not multitasking, for 25 minutes straight and then take a 5 minute break.

There are so many benefits to setting a timer or giving yourself a deadline, but the best of all is that the task will actually get DONE.

Reference: https://www.timetimer.eu/pomodoro-technique-25-minute-habit-helps-master-time/

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