A modern guide to maximizing your time and getting the most out of life.
Wednesday, Day 8 – Do NOT Multi-Task, EVER!
Don’t multi-task. I know it has become the rage to talk about how well we can all multi-task, but have we ever though about what we are really getting done? What if a professional athlete tried to multi-task? Imagine the batter on the phone to his wife, think he’d get a hit? I do not know who started folks believing that we can do many things at once and do them well (probably the same person that said the more hours you work the more you will get done) but we need to stop this falsehood dead in its track. To do a task well you need to focus in on just that task. You should only “multi-task” when one of the tasks you are doing does not require your attention, such as balancing your checkbook while standing in line at the grocery store or updating your to-do list while on hold on the phone.
If you think you can be on the phone with someone and reviewing a document at the same time, you are just fooling yourself. You are not saving any time and what you are actually doing is putting out a sub-standard product that will take more time to clean up later.
At Work
One thing that helps cut down on multi tasking is to ignore some things while you are working on a difficulty task. Turn off the phone. Close your email program. Close your instant messenger window. Nothing is that important that they need you right this minute, unless you happen to be a surgeon or a firefighter and more than likely people that REALLY need to get in touch with you know how to do it even when you have shut most ways of contacting you off.
I do not even answer my phone, EVER. I have the ringer shut off and do not know that anyone is even calling until I hear the machine say “we are unable to come to the phone..” I then listen and see if it’s important enough for me to stop what I’m doing and answer. I bet 90% of the time that the person on the other end just hangs up when they get the answering machine, now how important could that call have been and why should I have interrupted my time to pick up the phone in the first place?
You have got to learn to focus in on one task at a time and get it knocked out before you move on to the next one. Having two completed tasks and four to go is better than having six tasks all 70% complete. A 70% complete task is of no use to anyone. I will always remember Glenn who worked in an office with me and was always this close (he would hold up his fingers with just the slightest of gap between then) to being done. He NEVER got any task done on time.
Get it started and get it done, NOW.
At Home
Stop trying to balance your checkbook while the TV is on. Turn off the TV, focus, and get the task done. Yes, we can take in many stimuli at one time, but we cannot concentrate like we should on the task at hand. Sure there are a lot of things that can be done while the radio is playing or the TV is on, but before you do a task think and make sure that you are giving it the full attention it needs. Focusing on the task will get the task done faster and will produce a much better product at the end of the day.
Believe me, by simply following these guidelines, you WILL get more out of each day and find the time to enjoy your life.