Procrastination or putting things off is one of the most discussed topics in time management. After all, the reason we want to manage our time better is to get more done as quickly as possible. By the way, procrastination is one of the biggest enemies to do homework.
Procrastination is a fear. It is a fear of impending deadlines. It is also a feeling of helplessness that you are overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks to be done.
The rotation system suggested by Mark Forster, author of several books on time management, is a good approach to overcome procrastination. Forster doesn’t use the term “rotation system”, but I think he gets the gist of the method from him.
The first thing to do is write down all the items or jobs to be done on a list. There are no specific rules about what can be included in the list. Any type of tasks can be included, such as writing an email, filing invoices, writing a report, etc. However, it is advisable to make a list of jobs that can be done in the same place due to the very nature of the rotation system.
When you have finished writing the list, start working on the first item. At the very beginning, you need to set the minimum time to be spent on each item, such as 5 minutes or 10 minutes. When the time is up, you write down the time spent next to the item and move on to the next. If you do this for a while, some items are marked as complete. The remaining elements are also finally finished after a few hours of rotation.
There is a simple psychology at work in this system. You find it difficult to even start a task if the expected time and amount of work to complete the task feel overwhelming. However, just doing homework for only five minutes reduces the mental load. By repeating the fragmented shifts several times, even the largest task can be accomplished.
This system is also recommended for people who get bored easily by the monotonous routine. You can work on different tasks every five minutes and get to have as much variety in your work process as you need.
The system is fully explained in Forster’s book titled “Do Everything and Still Have Time to Play.” You can also visit his website (www.markforster.net), where he offers a more developed version of the rotation system, called Autofocus.
