The 20 Minute Timing Trick to Increase Your Effectiveness

The 20 Minute Timing Trick to Increase Your Effectiveness is very effective if you make an effort to stick to this technique. It has helped me work more effectively with less effort.

Time is our valuable asset. Also, it is often said that ‘time is money’. Still a lot of people are struggling to organise themselves and to use their time effectively. There could be many different reasons behind this problem. This article can help you to increase your effectiveness.

One of the main problems is the lack of mindfulness. When we start doing something, we are often so absorbed in our activity that we forget about other things. If we work without a periodic break it can lead to ineffectiveness and time wasting. If there is no deadline for something or it seems that there is plenty of time to finish what we plan to do, then usually we work less effectively too. We often lose our focus and we are often distracted by other things as well.

As our mind likes the comfort and entertainment, it is easy to be attracted by things that may bring more pleasure. This is especially characteristic if you are working or studying on the computer, because we have much attraction at our fingertips, such as social media (i.e. Facebook or YouTube). Later this behaviour can become a habit or addiction.


I tried different ways to discipline myself and to focus on my job as usually I have plenty of time, but nothing worked. I had no motivation to discipline myself. I needed much more time to finish something than now because I spent a lot of my time on side activities like checking my emails or Facebook posts. Also, I had back pain from sitting too much.

I was thinking about timing myself and my friend advised the same. He recommended I should set an alarm for 30 minutes every time I sit in front of my computer. So I did so. And ‘voila’, it works. But, still, every time I found a few minutes to do other things. Also, often I stopped the alarm and I continued sitting in front of my computer, and I was just gazing at some stupid video while I had other things to do. Therefore, I have decided to change my timing for shorter. I set my timer for 25 minutes. It was better, but still I did not focus enough. After that, I reduced my time to 20 minutes. In addition, I always made a plan what I want to do next. It seems it works fine this way.

Shorter timing does not work for me because 15 minutes was too short as I needed to stop just after the peak of my productivity. Also, I usually need those extra few minutes to organise myself and write a short note for myself about things I need to finish later.

The essence of this technique is that you can convince your mind that you only have 20 minutes to finish what you usually do in one hour. If you fail to finish your task in 20 minutes, you will finish it later in another set of 20 minutes. And still you have 20 minutes that you would not have if you do not use this trick.


How can help this technique?

  • This technique makes me focus, as 20 minutes are long enough to do something effectively, but not too long to have enough much time to do other things. This technique works if you make enough effort to stick to this 20-minute timing trick. Occasionally I cheat one or two minutes if I need to finish a sentence, but generally I keep myself to this schedule.
  • This technique can help not to overwork and to remain more focused. It has helped my back pain because in every 20 minutes I was moving a little bit. This break helps circulation and the mind be fresher and more focused. It has helped me work more effectively with less effort. With this technique, I managed to improve my performance by 50%.
  • I realised that since I got into this habit of working, I work harder, I am more focused and still it is easier to bring my mind back to reality. Try out this 20 Minute Timing Trick! Increase your effectiveness! So have a break!

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