A few days ago, I was having a lovely conversation with my mother when she suddenly cried, “Oh, no! I forgot the muffins!” Jumping out of her seat, she hurried into the kitchen.
Used to this sort of thing, I followed at a more sedate pace.
When I reached the kitchen, Mom had taken the muffins out of the oven. And while they weren’t burnt, they were definitely a little browner than I think she wanted them to be.
“You should use a timer,” I said for what felt like the millionth time.
“Oh, I don’t need all that,” she scoffed…for what felt like the millionth time.
In a strange way, not using a timer is almost like a point of pride for my mom. She’s an avid baker, and sees the fact that she “just knows” when the cakes or cookies are done as some special baker’s instinct, proof of her skills and experience.
Only, sometimes, that “special baker’s instinct” seems to go on the fritz.
Regardless, she still refuses to use a timer.
While I’m my mother’s daughter, this is definitely one way in which we differ. When I’m in the kitchen, the timer is my best friend. Whether I’m baking a cake or warming up leftovers, I don’t put something in the oven without setting the timer for when I need to take it out. And if I think I’m going to be too far away from the kitchen to hear the timer in there, I set the timer on my watch just to make sure.
But the kitchen isn’t the only place timers come in handy. Here are 3 ways a simple timer can make your life a whole lot easier.
Use Timers as Reminders
You know you need to do something at a specific time. You need to leave for your doctor’s appointment at 1:45, take the pot roast out of the oven in 35 minutes, or return a phone call after lunch. And you tell yourself you’ll remember.
And, sometimes, you do remember.
But sometimes (usually the worst times) you don’t.
So, if there’s something you need to do at a certain time, why set a timer to remind yourself? That way you don’t have to worry about being late or burning dinner.
Using timers as reminders will also save you brain power.
How many times have you put something in the oven and then gone off to work on something else. And you use so much mental energy trying not to forget about the cake that you can’t really focus on the ”something else” you’re trying to work on.
Setting a timer frees up that mental energy. Since you’ve got the timer set to go off when the cake needs to come out of the oven, you don’t have to waste brain power trying to remember. Instead, you can really focus on writing your latest blog post, trimming the hedges, or balancing your checkbook.
Use Timers to Get Started
There’s a task on your to-do list that you want to get done before the day is over. And you do remember the task about times over the course of the day.
But, each time, you say to yourself, “Eh, I’ll do that later.”
It’s not that you’re procrastinating on this particular task. Not really. The task isn’t challenging or overwhelming. And you don’t actually feel any resistance to doing it. This might be why it’s so easy to keep putting it off. You know you’ll be able to whip through the task with relative ease…when you actually get around to it.
Only, as we all know, there’s a very good chance you’ll never get around to doing that task before the end of the day. You’ll just keep putting it off until you’re in bed and the task still hasn’t gotten done.
Instead of telling yourself you’ll put a load of laundry in the washing machine at some nebulous time that never seems to arrive, give yourself a definite start time. Then set a timer or alarm to go off at that time.
Giving yourself a definite start time, and setting an alarm as a reminder, doesn’t just mean you can stop reminding yourself to do a certain task. It can also keep those nonessential but necessary tasks from falling through the cracks.
Use Timers to Have Fun…Within Limits
It’s true that being productive requires discipline. Sometimes, if you want to get something done, you have to forbid yourself to check Facebook or playing solitaire.
Knowing this, you tell yourself you can’t check your email until you’ve worked on your project for at least an hour.
Sounds good. Unless you’re so preoccupied with what might have landed in your inbox since you last checked that you can’t really focus on your project. As a result, you might not get as much done in that hour as you would if you weren’t thinking about your email.
As counter-intuitive as it might seem, you can sometimes be more productive if you indulge yourself. At least a little.
So say to yourself, “Okay, for 10 minutes I’m going to check my email, and maybe see what’s happening over on Twitter. After that, I’m going to work on my project for at least an hour.” Then set your timer and open up your email inbox.
You might find that after giving yourself permission watch YouTube videos for 10 minutes, you’re able to focus more on your project. And you won’t feel as much resistance to hunkering down and getting the work done.
Timers are everywhere, from your oven, to your cell phone, to your wrist watch. So why not put them to good use?
Reminding yourself to use a timer can be difficult at first. It might even seem like more trouble than it’s worth. But, once you get the hang of using timers and alarms, you won’t want to try to get along without them.
