Use a Chrono and Change Your Life
Lately there have been a few post asking how people use their chronographs. Today, I'd like to talk about how I use it. And changed my life.
Sounds grandiose, doesn't it? Wait, using a timer changed your life? Really? And my answer is yes it did. And I stand on firm theoretical basis for this statement. Wow ok, what does that mean?
Let me explain. I'm lazy. And get easily distracted. And everything seems to take forever. Why can't I just get things done? Well, it turns out there is a real answer for this.
It's called Parkinson's Law: "Work expands so as to fill out the time available for its completion". In simpler terms, the more time you allocate to a task, the long it will take to complete.
There is even a student version of this called the Student Syndrome. It was popularized by psychologist Dan Ariely; he noticed students tend to procrastinate when given more time to complete tasks.
And it's deadly. It steals your hours and takes away your dreams. But I've got a secret weapon to deal with this. Lo and behold, the humble chronograph.
One of my fav chronographs. A mecaquartz that gives the feeling of a mechanical watch with the precision of quartz. And it feels so good to push those buttons. Take that! And I do what is called 'time boxing'.
The idea is simple. All you have to do is carve out focused blocks for specific tasks. You limit the expanse of time into manageable chunks. And a chronograph is my weapon of choice. It's ticking on my wrist and reminds me to keep working because there is a limit.
And my fav chrono weapon is this:
"Should you chose to accept this mission .. ". When my 30 min is up, it beeps at me. Or the bomb explores. Same thing.
Does this mean that I always finish my task on time? No, of course not. It's a good faith estimate. But that beeping maintains my awareness that time is precious and ticking away. Because Parkinson's Law is a psychological effect. It's a matter of perspective. It keeps me on track.
But that's not the whole story. Because once I started doing time boxing, I discovered another secret effect.
There is another enemy of productivity. It's the cognitive cost of task (context) switching. We need different states of mind and recall new types of information for different tasks. It leaves us momentarily disoriented; we need to exert effort to rebuild our concentration. And the more often this happens, the greater the cognitive burden. So often, we tend to resist it. We become reluctant to move on to other tasks. And that steals our time.
But the chronograph reminds us that it's time to switch. It won't take no for an answer. The impetus to task switch is now provided by a timer; and this relieves the emotional burden on our minds.
I'm a person who can focus deeply on any particular subject. That's a useful skills that I apply in my day job as a data scientist. But it takes me forever to come up from the depth. So the DW-290 on my wrist is like a superpower! I'm Ethan Hunt tracking down and eliminating time thieves. And I always chose to accept the mission ;-).
So would you guys try this technique? Or maybe you already do something similar? Let me know how you use your chronographs.
Son of a watchmaker. Artsy farsy dude.
I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself…
I’m going to try and use my chrono next time I have a task. I tend to get more done when there’s a time limit.
I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself…
I’m going to try and use my chrono next time I have a task. I tend to get more done when there’s a time limit.
An hour is a lot for that, likely some time savings to be found there... 🤣
An hour is a lot for that, likely some time savings to be found there... 🤣
Telling... Very, very telling. 😉🤣
Deadlines... You're talking about deadlines.
And I should do this.
Great use of your watch to improve your life!
Deadlines... You're talking about deadlines.
And I should do this.
Great use of your watch to improve your life!
I tend to get lost in my work. For me, it's important to keep an awareness of the passing of time.
I definitely do this. I fact, I would argue that it's not a chronograph (stopwatch) that unlocks the magic, it's a countdown timer. Preferably multiple countdown timers.
When I need to move some big rocks, I rely on timers. They can be on my watch, my phone, my computer, my fitness band, etc.
Casio's referee AE1300 is a beast in this regard - CT, interval timer, stopwatch target time, you name it. There are quite a few G Squad fitness models that have the same timer set. I have a GMD-B800 that's Bluetooth-enabled. It makes it very easy to set and change timers from the app for any time boxing or Pomodoro techniques you want. I can highly recommend a G Squad for timing superpowers!
Yes! This is why as much as I like my snk807 I don't wear it often, I really like my timers so anything with a movable bezel, chronograph, or stop watch are my go tos. I eventually found out that I was doing something called the pomodoro method. I especially like my g Shocks that show current time and timer or stopwatch going at the same time.
Me before doing the dishes
I have a little pomodoro timer on my desk that blinks when it hits the time limit. The ones that make noise tend to startle me when I’m deep into a work project. I like to use my chronograph to time certain reports and processes at work to see if I can optimize them. SQL management studio tells you how long a script takes to run, but a lot of reporting programs don’t. It’s been really handy for that and for timing my coffee!
Me before doing the dishes
… those dishes totally had it coming to them… you warned them. 👊
The rise of multi tasking was terrible for humans!
Interesting to see a fellow data scientist facing the same challenge.
Also, I guess now I have a valid reason to pick up a chrono 👍
Nice article!
Not a watch, but I’ve been using this timer on and off for a couple of years. Flip it to the desired amount of time and it starts the count down.
Ckim you are always a good story teller. Recently i just know from a fellow cruncher that you are a Youtuber. I subscribe and like your video. Good luck, I see you have almost 4k.
Regarding your post, people now tend to multi task, that why a job take forever to be done. I always do multiple things at once, then some task get forgetten.
Great read thanks for telling your story maybe your journey can help my son's one in university and one in collage i sent them the link so they can read they was both where given watches by Santa .
All the best for the new year
Honestly, It might have been seeing Denzel's Equalizer that got me thinking. He would start the time and see how many seconds it would take to whoop the bad guys haha.
Great story! I had to use my chronography watch to read this post LOL!!! 🤣😂😆
True story: I wrote this post with the timer on lol
When you give up your freedom to time and deadlines it will not go well for your sanity. Life is a journey not a race and if you do race your only opponent is yourself. No one figures this out until most of their life is behind them and you can't get that time back. I would rather not even have a second hand anymore.
For me, it about living life mindful of the passage of time. And filling it with meaningful goals. And understanding ourselves enough to reach them. Then I can look back at a life lived well.
I always set 15 mins for basic tasks n 30 - 45 mins for more complex ones... Then I take a short break... 😁
I give myself 30 min increments. I find that works best for me. Totally agreed that more complex tasks need a decent interval.
Ckim you are always a good story teller. Recently i just know from a fellow cruncher that you are a Youtuber. I subscribe and like your video. Good luck, I see you have almost 4k.
Regarding your post, people now tend to multi task, that why a job take forever to be done. I always do multiple things at once, then some task get forgetten.
Thank you for your kind words. I've tried to multitask, but like you said, it lead me to being unproductive. I need a solid time block to do quality work.
Nice article!
Not a watch, but I’ve been using this timer on and off for a couple of years. Flip it to the desired amount of time and it starts the count down.
I also use a kitchen timer for my drawings. It kinda works like that.
The rise of multi tasking was terrible for humans!
Studies show that 'multitasking' is really an illusion. We really can't do 2 things at the same time. And then you run into the problem of context switching.
I have a little pomodoro timer on my desk that blinks when it hits the time limit. The ones that make noise tend to startle me when I’m deep into a work project. I like to use my chronograph to time certain reports and processes at work to see if I can optimize them. SQL management studio tells you how long a script takes to run, but a lot of reporting programs don’t. It’s been really handy for that and for timing my coffee!
Yes! That timer works great for time blocking!
Studies show that 'multitasking' is really an illusion. We really can't do 2 things at the same time. And then you run into the problem of context switching.
Exactly! You waste more time "setting up" your brain again. I block out time, try to take frequent short little breaks.
I love posts like this - in which someone sets out the different ways in which they are interacting with their watch (rather than just announce the purchase of another one!).
I can definitely relate to the context switching problem. In my job as a lawyer, I often get an email/query about a case which might not take long to answer in itself, but because it was a case I dealt with many weeks ago, I will have forgotten all of the context: what the claim and defence are, what's the state of the evidence, what stage is the case at in the Court's timetable towards trial. The knowledge that it will take me a good 20 minutes or so to get back up to speed before I can actually answer the query means that I tend to procrastinate for hours before finally getting on with it, and realising it didn't take that long after all!
I'd better dig out the Chronographs!
Great post
Not got around to using a chronograph yet, but have started using the bezel to set time limits in meetings, and we all sit in far to many of them
Its suprising how much more productive the meetings are, and you get to use a function on the watch😀 it was probably never designed for
Terrific! So many great lessons here. I really enjoyed what you wrote. Have a wonderful day!
Thanks for sharing! Very creative and practical ideas. I need the discipline and then I'll be off and running. 👍
Great post
Not got around to using a chronograph yet, but have started using the bezel to set time limits in meetings, and we all sit in far to many of them
Its suprising how much more productive the meetings are, and you get to use a function on the watch😀 it was probably never designed for
I hate meetings that go over 30 min. Meetings should be about planning the work. Not doing the work during the meeting.