You know that feeling when you have so much to do that you don’t even know where to start?
Like it feels like this big amorphous blob that’s so hard to even get your hands around it to get a grip on it?
Yeah, me too.
And that’s why today I’m sharing my number one tool for helping to calm that chaotic blob and turn it into action you can take even when you’re overwhelmed.
And that is using a kitchen timer.
I’m serious. A kitchen timer. Or a phone timer or one of those visual timers, whatever. The point is: this one simple tool could completely change how you work.
Now, this idea isn’t new. Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro technique that uses a kitchen timer (his is a tomato, which is why he called it Pomodoro—tomato in Italian). He created this in the late 80s for productivity.
Why Your Brain Freezes (And What a Timer Does About It)
Here’s what happens: You tell yourself you need to work on your website. And then your brain just kind of freezes because what does that mean?
It could mean a thousand different things. Update the design of the home page? Improve the speed? Something else? What’s something else? How long will it take? Do I have enough time to complete it?
So instead of starting, you end up scrolling Instagram for 40 minutes because that’s way easier than diving into something big—this big blob of “I don’t know where to start” that you might not complete.
But here’s what a timer does: it gives your brain boundaries.
It’s like: “Okay, you’re going to work on this one specific thing for 20 minutes. That’s it. Just 20 minutes.”
And suddenly that feels doable. You can do anything for 20 minutes, right? Or even 10. Or just five minutes.
The constraint, that finiteness of it, is what makes it possible to actually start. Because starting is always the hardest part.
Picture This
It’s Tuesday morning. You’re sitting at your desk staring at your to-do list. It’s got, I don’t know, 47 things on it, and you’re thinking, “Okay, where do I even begin?”
You look at the clock and it’s already 10 a.m. and you haven’t even started anything because you spent two hours just trying to figure out what to do first. Two hours just deciding.
Have you done this? I know I have.
Where you’ve spent way more time organizing your tasks (if you can even get to that point), or color-coding your calendar, or researching the perfect productivity system or app instead of actually taking action and doing the work.
You are not alone.
Here’s What’s Really Happening
We get so overwhelmed by everything we need to do that we end up doing nothing. Or worse, we end up doing all the easy, low-value stuff that makes us feel busy but doesn’t actually move anything forward.
You spend an hour organizing your desktop folders or tweaking colors on a presentation that isn’t due for two weeks. All the while, all the important stuff just sits there waiting. Judging you.
And the longer you avoid it, the bigger and scarier it gets in your head. Until you’re so paralyzed by the weight of everything you should be doing that you just freeze. And then you feel terrible about yourself for freezing.
That’s where the timer comes in.
Four Reasons Why This Works So Well
Let me tell you why this works, and maybe you’ll see yourself in this because I think a lot of us struggle with the same stuff.
1. It Makes the Invisible Visible
Time is this abstract concept, right? “I’ll work on this for a while” doesn’t really mean anything to your brain.
But “I’ll work on this for 25 minutes” is concrete. You can see the timer counting down. You know exactly how much time you have left.
And weirdly, that helps you focus because your brain isn’t constantly wondering: How long have I been doing this? Should I stop? Am I done yet?
This is why Disney posts wait times and train stations install countdown clocks. Studies say that when people know the time frame, uncertainty drops, anxiety falls, and the wait even feels shorter—even if the wait time is the same.
2. It Lowers the Activation Energy
This is just a way to say it makes it easier to start. And we all know that starting is usually by far the hardest part.
Once you’re going, you’re usually fine. But that initial activation—that “I need to sit down and begin this thing”—that’s brutal. The tyranny of the blank page, as they call it.
But when you tell yourself, “Hey, I’m just going to set the timer for 10 minutes, and I only have to do it for 10 minutes,” suddenly it feels way more doable.
10 minutes is nothing. You can commit to 10 minutes. Or even five. Three minutes when you’re exhausted or overwhelmed and you don’t want to do anything.
Don’t judge it. Starting is already a win. So even if it’s just one minute, you’ve already done more.
3. It Protects You From Yourself
Here’s the other thing that might happen to you, especially if you have ADHD like I do: you can hyperfocus. Scary levels of hyperfocus where you start working on something and six, eight hours go by and you haven’t moved or blinked and you’re completely fried.
The timer helps stop that because when it goes off, you have to stop. You have to take a break, eat something, stand up, or just take a breather.
And that is protection in the long term from burnout, which is huge.
4. It Gives You Little Wins Throughout the Day
Every time the timer goes off and you’ve completed what you set out to do, that’s a win.
And your brain really needs those little wins. It needs that dopamine hit of “Hey, you said you’d do a thing and you did it.”
Because we all spend a lot of our lives feeling like we’re not winning, that we can’t finish things, that we’re behind, or we’re just kind of failing at life.
So these tiny timer-sized victories really do matter. They help reinforce an identity of “Hey, I’m the type of person who gets things done.”
And identity—that is the core that helps drive everything else.
What Time Boxing Actually Is
When you first hear the term, you might think it’s just scheduling. Like, “Oh, okay, you mean I should just put things on my calendar? Yeah, I already do that anyway.”
No. This is different.
Time boxing is when you take a task and you assign it a specific, fixed amount of time. And here’s the key part: when the time is up, you stop. Whether you’re done or not, you stop.
The time itself is the constraint, not the task.
So instead of saying, “Today I need to write a blog post,” you say, “I’m going to spend one hour writing this blog post from 2 to 3 p.m.” And when 3 p.m. hits, you stop. Even if you’re mid-sentence, even if you’re on a roll, you stop and you move on to the next thing.
And I know what you’re thinking: “But what if I don’t finish? What if I’m almost done and I just need five more minutes?”
I get it. And that’s exactly the point. That’s where the magic happens.
Parkinson’s Law in Action
Parkinson’s law says that work expands to fill the time allotted for it.
So if you give yourself all afternoon to write the blog post, guess what? It’s going to take all afternoon. But if you give yourself an hour, you’d be amazed at how much you can get done in just that hour.
Here’s what probably happens to you (and happens to me too): You set these really generous time boxes, like “I’m going to work on my website for three hours.” And then you know what happens?
You spend the first hour and a half just kind of poking around, checking fonts, scrolling through stock photos. You’re filling the time because you have it. Your brain’s like, “Oh, we have three hours, cool. Let’s mess around for two of them and then we’ll panic for the last hour.”
But when you cut that down to 45 minutes, suddenly you’re like, “Oh, I have to get this done.”
You focus. You know exactly what you need to accomplish. And you do it.
Because the constraint forces you to prioritize and actually execute instead of just thinking about executing.
How to Actually Do This
Okay, so here’s how I use time boxing. And you can adapt this to fit your own life and work style, but this is the basic framework.
Step 1: Pick Your Three Most Important Tasks
Not 10, not 20. Three. And they should be the tasks that, if you did nothing else today, would make you feel like today was a good day.
For me, that might be:
Finish the homepage copy for my new template
Record and edit a podcast episode
Reach out to five potential collaborators
Those are my big three.
Step 2: Estimate How Long Each One Will Take
And here’s the trick: cut that estimate in half.
If you think it’ll take two hours, give yourself one. If you think it’ll take an hour, give yourself 30 minutes.
Why? Because we’re terrible at estimating time, and we usually way overestimate how long things will take when we’re actually focused.
Step 3: Assign Each Task a Specific Time Slot
Not just “sometime today.” A specific slot.
For example:
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.: Work on homepage copy
10:30 - 11:30 a.m.: Record podcast episode
2:00 - 2:45 p.m.: Reach out to collaborators
Step 4: Set Your Timer and Start
When the timer goes off, stop. Even if you’re not done. Move on to the next thing or take a break.
This is the hardest part, but it’s also the most important part. The discipline of stopping is what makes the whole system work.
Breaking Down Bigger Projects
Now, you might be thinking, “Okay, but what about big projects? Like launching a product or building a website? I can’t do that in 45 minutes.”
You’re right. You can’t. But you can do part of it in 45 minutes.
The key is to break those big scary projects down into smaller, time-boxed chunks.
Example: Website Redesign (Monday Morning, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.)
Instead of “work on website,” here’s how I’d break it down:
25 minutes: List all the pages I need and what each one should do
25 minutes: Sketch rough wireframes for the homepage
25 minutes: Write headlines for each section
15 minutes: Find 3-5 reference sites I like
25 minutes: Pick my color palette and fonts
25 minutes: Build the hero section in Show it
Outcome: I now have a clear site structure and my homepage hero is live.
See how that works? Instead of this vague “work on website” blob, I have specific, time-boxed tasks that I can actually complete.
Example: Marketing (Tuesday Afternoon, 1 - 2:30 p.m.)
25 minutes: Grab the top pins from my Pinterest to repurpose
25 minutes: Write five fresh descriptions with keywords
25 minutes: Build the UTMs and check the links
15 minutes: Schedule eight pins
Outcome: I have scheduled pins with clean tracking and I know exactly what to post.
Example: Home Reset (Thursday Evening, 5 - 5:45 p.m.)
This works for personal stuff too!
15 minutes: Clear visible surfaces (kitchen and table)
10 minutes: Prep morning snacks for the kids
20 minutes: Fold the laundry
Because a calm, clean home—especially if you work from home—is the background that makes everything else easier.
When I Really Needed This System
I remember when I was pregnant with my son and I was exhausted. I was in the eighth month and I could barely move without losing breath and everything.
I relied on the timer system so much just to be able to get things done.
I would set my timer for 10 minutes. 10 minutes to clean the family room. And then when those were up, I would spend 10 minutes sitting and watching a show.
10 minutes on, 10 minutes off. And sometimes it was 10 minutes on and 30 minutes off, depending on how I was feeling.
There’s no shame in what you have to use if it works. That’s most important because you want to make progress towards your goal. You want to make sure that you’re fulfilling your promises to yourself without feeling overwhelmed, without feeling the shame and worry that comes with it.
Common Problems (And How to Fix Them)
Let me talk about some of the problems you’re going to run into because these little things trip everyone up.
“I Keep Getting Distracted Mid-Box”
Close everything that’s not related to the task. Physically close it. Email, Slack, every tab you have. I get it—I always have a million tabs open—so use a tab saver. There are plenty out there that will save your tabs. But close everything.
And put your phone in another room if you have to. I know it sounds extreme, but sometimes you need extreme measures.
Also, if you keep getting distracted, your box might be too long. Try shorter boxes.
“I Didn’t Finish in the Time I Gave Myself”
That’s totally okay. It’s actually really good information because now you know that task takes longer than you thought.
So next time, give it more time or break it up into smaller pieces. Please do not beat yourself up about it. It’s just information. Adjust and keep going.
“My Kid Interrupted Me and Now Everything’s Off”
Okay, that’s real life. Of course it happens.
When a box gets interrupted, you have two choices:
Restart the timer for a shorter amount of time to finish the task
Move it to a different time slot
What you don’t do is let it bleed into the rest of your day and mess everything up. Make a conscious decision about what to do when you encounter that interruption.
“I’m Too Tired to Focus for the Whole Box”
Then make it shorter. Five minutes is better than zero.
Sometimes on really rough days, you’ll just do a bunch of 10-minute boxes with five-minute breaks instead of trying to push through a full 50-minute deep work session.
Meet yourself where you are.
“I Finished Early and Now I Don’t Know What to Do”
Celebrate! That’s awesome. Good job. You estimated well or you worked efficiently.
You can either use the extra time to start on the next box, or you can just take an extra-long break. Both are good options.
Don’t feel like you have to fill every second with productivity.
“I Got Into Flow and Didn’t Want to Stop When the Timer Went Off”
Yeah, this one’s tough because getting into the flow state is great. But you also want to be careful about not burning out or neglecting other important things.
So what you can do is note where you are, finish the immediate thought so you don’t lose it, and then stop.
You can always come back to it in another box. But the discipline of stopping is actually really important, even when it feels hard.
“This Feels Way Too Rigid and I Don’t Like It”
Okay, then adjust it. It’s not about being perfect or following some strict system. It’s about finding what works for you.
Maybe you need longer boxes. Maybe you want more flexibility. Maybe you just need to time box three things a day and leave the rest open.
That’s totally fine. Just take what works and leave the rest.
The Real Point of Time Boxing
Here’s what I really want you to understand about time boxing:
It’s not actually about the system. It’s about the mindset shift.
It’s about moving from “I need to do everything and I never seem to make any progress” to “Okay, I have a limited amount of time and I need to be intentional about how I use it. So I’ll have to prioritize the most important things, even if it’s hard.”
Because the truth is, you’ll never get to the bottom of your to-do list. There’s always going to be more to do. There’s always going to be another email, another project, another idea.
And if you keep waiting for the day when everything is done and you can finally lay back and relax, you’re going to be waiting forever.
But what if instead of trying to do everything, you just focused on doing the right things?
What if you protected your time the way you protect your money? What if you said no to good things so you could say yes to even better things?
That’s what time boxing can help you do. It can help you get really clear about what matters and what doesn’t. And it can help you build a business and a life that doesn’t require you to work all the time to feel productive.
The timer itself doesn’t make you more productive. It just makes you more intentional.
And intention is what actually moves the needle.
Your Challenge
Here’s what I want to challenge you to do:
Tomorrow, just give it a try.
Pick three important tasks. Give each one a specific time slot. Set a timer. And just see what happens.
Don’t try to time box your entire life on day one. Just try three. That’s it.
And pay attention to how it feels:
Does it feel constraining?
Does it feel freeing?
Do you get more done or less?
Do you feel more stressed or less stressed?
Just notice.
Because the only way you’re going to know if this is going to work for you is to give it a try.
And I’m willing to bet that if you give it a real shot, you’re going to be surprised at how much this simple little tool can change your relationship with your work and with your time.
The Bottom Line
Time boxing isn’t sexy. It’s not super complicated. But it works.
And in a world where we’re all trying to do more and achieve more and are so busy and distracted, sometimes the best hack is just being a little bit more intentional with the time we have.
Your time is the most valuable resource you have. So treat it that way.
Protect it. Use it wisely. And don’t let other people’s priorities take over your life and become your time boxes.
Want to make your website look amazing without the tech overwhelm? Check out my Showit and Canva templates at marymilagros.com — or grab my free Sales Page Starter Kit (with GPT for copy!) at marymilagros.com/free.
