want you to imagine that you’ve just knocked over an enormous jar of lentils on your kitchen floor. What do you do? You pick them up and put them back in the jar because you can’t really do much until it’s all cleaned up right? Would you try to reply to a message on Facebook while you’re scooping up lentils? That would be silly, it would slow you down because you’d only be using one hand. Would you write emails as you’re tipping the lentils back in the jar? Definitely not because you can’t really concentrate on writing until you’re done cleaning. Physical tasks are conveniently self-regulating. For example you can’t have a shower and mop the floors at the same time so we’re forced to single task jobs like this and they get done much faster.
Let me share something with you that just might change the way you work…
You can’t multi-task on mental items either.
We can easily flick from emails, to phone calls, to writing reports, to text messaging and because we aren’t moving our bodies or engaging our extremities, it gives us the illusion that we’re being total ninjas and successfully doing several things at once. The truth bomb is that we’re not being ninjas at all. We are simply taking all of those tasks and totally screwing them up, not completing any of them effectively and taking twice as long to work our way through our to-do list. Multi-tasking is a bad habit that’s totally breakable so I’ve popped together a list of 5 ways you can simplify your life today – and stop that counter-productive multi-tasking on mental items.
Divide your day into units of time
Divide your day into half hour blocks and start thinking in units of time instead of minutes and hours. So if you work from 9 to 5 that’s 8 hours which equals 16 units. If you allocate each task a unit of time for completion it will put you in the right head space to get your task done. Completing a task in 3 units of time seems a lot more manageable than ‘get all the things done by 5pm’.
Turn off all notifications
Your phone is your biggest enemy. Turn it off. If you can have it off all day, do that. You’ll be 1000 times more productive because every time you reach for your phone to ‘check’ Facebook your phone will be off and it will remind you that you’re not supposed to be checking Facebook. If you need to have your phone on for emergency calls from your kid’s schools or for casual work shifts leave it on, with the volume up, high on a shelf where you can’t reach it easily. It will stop you from doing procrastination ‘checks’ but you won’t miss any important calls. Note – You never need to ‘check’ Facebook. It’s still there and it’s doing fine so don’t panic.
Have a physical in and out box
Put all your bills, photocopying, mail, kid’s excursion notes, doctor appointments and vet notices in the inbox. Choose one thing at a time, complete the task and then put the item in the out box for filing or shredding. This will prevent you from sitting at your desk or kitchen table under a pile of never-ending paper that you just can’t get finished. By categorising the physical documents as ‘to do’ and ‘done’ it will help you keep to a manageable system.
Take notes
If something urgent comes at you, make a note of it and put it in your physical inbox. Just because you suddenly have to bake a cake for tomorrow’s morning tea doesn’t mean you have to write off the rest of the day with planning, panicking and procrastination. You’ll get to it later. Just do one thing at a time.
Keep calm
Rushing doesn’t help anyone. Just slowly work your way through your tasks and do the best you can. Three totally completed items is much better than thirty half completed items. Remember that.
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Do you need to cut back on the multi-tasking? Be honest now?
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Do you want more awesome tips on how to be the star of your own life and totally get your shit together? Follow Smaggle on Facebook. I post lots of cool tips over there… and sometimes videos of dogs being cute and Benedict Cumberbatch being sexy/awesome.