I don’t believe it. . .
IN FACT,
Often when I’m giving a talk
I invite the audience to get out their phones to
Text
Facebook
Tweet
Snapchat
Instagram
Email
because I’d be doing the same thing if I was sitting where they were
and more
that I firmly believe that I can do
ONE THING
better when I’m doing
more than just
ONE THING. . .
AND THEN EVIDENCE BASED DATA COMES KNOCKING DOWN MY DOOR. . .
I recently read a blog post by Darius Foroux
a n d
he tells us
that we’ve been
MULTITASKED
by
Multitasking. . .
Darius takes a wild guess, even now and says boldly: “You’re doing something else right now in addition to reading this article. Maybe you’re in a meeting, or working on a proposal, or walking on a treadmill, or listening to your mom on the phone telling you what she had for dinner. The point is you’re multitasking.”
He goes on to even question: “And why wouldn’t you, when busyness has become such a badge of honor? When we’re led to believe that we need to be “doing” something at all times, why stop at one thing? Why not go for two things in a single moment, or even three? With all the pressure to be constantly productive, it’s easy to forget about all the studies telling us that multitasking isn’t effective. But there are plenty of them: Research has shown that multitasking reduces productivity (every time you switch between tasks, it takes up to nine minutes to refocus on the original task), increases the rate of errors, and may even damage your brain. The estimated global cost of multitasking is $450 billion a year. It’s also making us sad.
He DARES ASKS US:
- Do you ever feel restless?
- Do you feel the urge to grab your phone every five minutes (or even less)?
- Do you find it difficult to focus on just one thing?
- Do your relationships suffer from your “distracted” behavior?
If you answered yes to all four, you might be addicted to multitasking. Darius makes an attempt to make us feel better by confessing, “I was, too. But once I became aware of my behavior, I made a concerted effort to change. Here are my tips for how to follow suit.“
Pay attention
For next few days, Darius tells us to, “make note of when you’re dealing with more than one task at the same time. Do you tend to multitask more at certain times of day? When you’re doing certain types of tasks? Figure out what your triggers are — without awareness, we can’t change our behavior.“
Turn off notifications for your nonessential apps
Darius tells us, “To reduce the temptation to split my attention, I’ve turned off notifications on almost all the apps on my phone and computer. The exceptions include calls, messages, reminders, calendar alerts, notices from my banking app, and warnings from my security cam app. Everything else is off. I’ve gotten rid of notifications for group texts, email, social media, and news.“
Check email at a few set times
Darius challenges us with, “Unless you work in customer service, it shouldn’t be a problem to keep your email closed throughout the day. Choose a few set times to check your messages so you’re not doing it throughout the day while working on other things.“
Relocate if necessary
Forum tells us what we all know to be true: “Too many offices are distracting. If you can’t focus where you work, reserve a conference room for a half-hour each day. If you can’t do that, request to work from home one or two days a week. Do what you can to get to a physical space where you can focus.“
Finally, Darius wraps it all neatly up with a big bow: “When you quit multitasking, your mind gets stronger, so try to see all these tips as exercise for your brain. You can do it — one task at a time.
Sometimes
what we think is
P R O D U C T I V E
is just an excuse to be busy enough
to not get much done at all
but we look good doing it
and somehow
if we literally die
BEING SO BUSY
than it becomes
H E R O I C
but
The Worst Kind of
Caring Catalyst
is a dead one
with the cause of death being
MULTITASKED. . .
We all have multiple
Purposes
Meanings
Reasons
Destinies
. . .we can
. . .we DO
m u c h
but can do much more
(powerfully)
one thing at a time
TRY
IT
