Are you a person having ten things to do in your to-do (and on your mind) but end up getting exhausted even before you complete one?
I used to be that person!
Aren’t we all fans of multi-tasking? I, in fact thought multitasking was cool. Don’t we fancy the illustrations of humans portrayed as God/Goddess having 10 hands doing 10 different things at the same time? This ambitious person might look cool but as a matter of fact can never be productive.
The rudimentary principle to get something done is to stop doing multiple things at the same time.
My bit of advice. Do not multitask.
Multitasking is the mother of procrastination!
Are you a human who gets flashes of phenomenal ideas for something when you’re working on another project. That is perfectly fine. Write down the idea for later and get going with your current task.
Do not ride a bike while you are still polishing your shoes. You get the drift? Make sure to continue with the primary task and complete it, before diving into the next one. Set time and do one thing at a time.
I believe taking one task at a time gives you a sense of clarity. Typically a day at work might contain a set of tasks but what if everything is on your mind all the time and you hardly get anything done. I personally struggled with this multitask-er syndrome for a while, I admit. A few months back it dawned on me how exhausted I felt all the time yet hadn’t got much done. I figured it was because of my innate need to feel super productive and pursue multiple things on a given day.
Being productive means not doing many things in a day. It means how much you accomplish to get to the next level.
Let’s disillusion multi-tasking. What can be done to become productive and not fall prey to ‘I’m always snowed under’ scenario?
Like most successful people do, try and write down top 3 important things to accomplish each day. Prioritize those three and plan them out for the course of the day. I split my tasks based on the lunch hour. Usually or rather unusually, post lunch is my most productive time of the day. I plan two important tasks post lunch and one important task before. I never let the other tasks and Emails get into my head while working on the priorities. This has helped me save time and accomplish more work than ever.
Try it out.Next is de-cluttering. De -cluttering mind is important as much as de-cluttering the physical space. Once you write down the tasks, it gets easier for you to visualize how you’d want to accomplish them each day. Visualizing each day along with the jotted priorities will make it easy for you to accommodate the add — ons and deviance.My third and most important suggestion is ‘ learn to say No’ when required. I know this is the most difficult of all. It’s tempting to be everywhere all the time and it’s in our nature to be polite and say yes to others when we really have to say No. Unless it is really important, learn to say No or even ‘Maybe later’. Make sure you don’t fall prey to a deviance that might perturb your current productivity.
Do not get the term multitasking mixed with being a multi-tasking personality. You could be a multi-tasker in LIFE. Say you are a cricketer, own a restaurant in the city, run yet another business and also are a politician, all at the same time. You could be the Jack of all trades, yet you also need ‘focus time’ to be master of each. You can’t keep thinking of the phone call about the plunge in sales at your restaurant while batting at an international game. You focus on the game, give your best and then move on to the strategy of improving footfall at your restaurant.
The example might sound overwhelming and strategic. However it can be applied to our everyday lives. Keeping too many tabs open in our brain all at the same time isn’t going to yield much, is it?
So let’s progress through checking off one item at a time. Tell me how accomplished and satisfied you feel.
You can write to me at sangeeta043@gamil.com. You can also share your thoughts in the comments box.
Until next time…
Cheers!