Balance Work and Life Better With Time Boxing

Time boxing is a method that helps freelance workers to manage their time effectively. This is more so if they are mothers who still want to pursue their career. Here is a scenario.

You do not want to leave your kids to a nanny. For you, it is better that you are the one taking care of them so you can properly guide them, especially in their transformative years. However, you also do not want to put your knowledge and your skills as a writer to waste. Hence, you decided to work freelance. With this, you will be able to be with your children while working.

You felt the excitement doing this the first time. But soon enough, you realized that it is not easy. Something gets wrong every time. You are not able to submit your work on the specified deadline because you have to attend to the needs of each of your children. Or, you are able to deliver the task promptly but you are not able to feed them on time because you are in a hurry. You want to give up already. No matter how you wish to maintain your career, there is no way you can juggle your life to work.

You are wrong. With time boxing, this is easy. You only have to use an alarm clock or a timer (the noisier the better) and in instant, you will be able to manage your time – both for your children and your assignments. As you wake up in the morning (or before you sleep in the evening), write down the tasks that you have to do. Assign each of them with your estimated time of completion. For instance, 6 a.m., clean the house; 7 a.m., prepare breakfast and your kids to school; 8 a.m. to 9.am., rest and prepare yourself to work. At 9 a.m.-10a.m., start writing first article; 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., write second article, and at 11 a.m. to 12 noon, prepare food and eat lunch… and so on and so forth.

With this strategy, you know what your activity is after another. You are highly motivated with this approach that you are also focused. There is no way you will be out of your timeline. You get to continue and grow your career while you also have the chance to take care of your children.

Time boxing is a technique in time management. But more than this, it also serves as a motivator to stay-at-home moms who still want to pursue their careers.