Why Everyone Can Benefit from Using Countdowns
Take a second and think about countdown timers. You probably use them when you put something in the oven, workout, or have an event (30 days until the New Year!). In this context, countdowns are just a utility telling you that something will be complete or will happen at some point in time. What if you used countdowns as a utility to tell you when something needs to get done or needs to be ready by…?
As an example, you need to send out a gift to your parents by 8PM or else it won’t get there on time for their anniversary. You probably wrote down or put in your to do list application, ‘Send gift to parents by 8PM on December 10’. As the days go by you keep seeing December 10th, but what day is it again today? What if you had set a countdown timer to complete that task? When you look at it is says 1 Day, 4 Hours, and 8 Minutes. Now the sense of urgency sets in as it is getting closer and it motivates you to get to the shipping store earlier.
Sense of Urgency — Importance, requiring swift action.
Let’s take a look at another example. Say one day you were watching the Home Shopping Network and a so called ‘deal of a lifetime’ popped up. How did they get you to buy this item? They probably did something to instill a sense of urgency in you. But what exactly did they do? They put a countdown timer right next to the price. Every minute and second that passed created a higher sense of urgency to get that special price. Therefore you caved and bought it because you didn’t want to miss out on that so called ‘deal of a lifetime’. What if that same approach was used for your tasks and projects?
With countdowns, you see exactly how much time you have left to complete your task or project. Thus, you spend less time on social media, surfing the internet, talking to co-workers, etc. because you feel the need to get that specific project or task done on time. You will be more focused on the task at hand and be less inclined to be distracted, thus turning into a more productive person.
Countdowns are a great compliment to the Urgency Matrix.
You can set countdowns to make sure the Urgent and Important tasks are done on time. With an Urgency Matrix, tasks and projects move from one quadrant to the next depending on time allocation. With countdowns your tasks and projects will automatically jump from one quadrant to the next. If you have quarterly reports that are due in a month, they fall in the Important but not Urgent Quadrant but as the days and weeks pass, they move into the Urgent and Important quadrant. Setting the countdown ahead of time will allow you to keep track of this movement and be prepared as the due date quickly approaches.
Motivation — The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.
No one wants to miss something important like your marathon time by 3 seconds or the bus by 10 seconds. Knowing how much time is left to your goal time or making the bus on time is pure motivation to get it done quicker or get there faster. Why should your to dos be any different? Seeing you have 1 hour to complete a task puts you in a motivated state of mind to beat the clock and get it done. Combining that with the sense of urgency, you become unstoppable. 3, 2, 1…your task is done. Think about it, if you have a list of tasks that you can check off before time runs out on the timer, you feel accomplished and motivated for the next challenge ahead.
Now that you are convinced countdowns are a great way to manage your tasks and projects, how do you do it? The answer is Vista List. Vista List is a to do list application that uses countdown timers to help you manage your Projects and Tasks simply.
The co-founders of Vista List have one mission: Help people get back their sense of time, get more done, and stress out less.
Vista List is available in the Apple App Store — download today! For more information about Vista List, visit www.vistalist.co
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