How many times have you wished for one of these?
Breast pump?! hahaha :D :D
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I used to be a big fan of multitasking!
‘I can multitask like the best of ’em’, I would grin from ear to ear.
My multitasking skills were called upon heavily at my old job. I had a span of about 5-10 minutes before I was pulled into a new task. This went on for the entire day, every day. I started to realize that this was not an efficient way to work.
Those same work habits carried over into my new business and before I knew it, I was multitasking in a crazy environment just like my old one. Only now I was bringing it onto myself. I wondered if maybe I secretly thrived upon this style of work.
Zen Habits wrote a great article on ‘How NOT To Multitask: Work Simpler and Saner‘. I am so happy I came across this article when I did.
Here are a few key points from the article that I will expand upon:
First of all, multitasking is inefficient, crazy, and more complicated!
How NOT to multitask:
1) Plan your day in blocks
I like the 40:20 idea: 40 min work blocks, with 20 min. re-grouping or miscellaneous tasks blocks. The 20 minutes of each hour is allotted for things that pop up unexpectedly and for future planning, this does not mean 20 minutes of each hour is spent on Facebook or Digg. ;)
2) First thing in the morning, work on your most important task of the day
You know the saying…GIT ER DONE!
3) Have only one physical and one virtual inbox
I currently have 5 email accounts and I will be re-directing every email account into one inbox. Some of them already are, but some of them are not.
4) Stop and Breathe
If you feel the urge to check your email, Tweet, IM, Facebook or do another task while working on something, stop yourself and take a few deeps breaths, re-directing your focus to the task at hand. Repeat to yourself what your goal is for the hour.
I am notoriously bad for walking to my computer to do a specified task and then get distracted and do something totally different. Before I know it I am replying to emails and I have completely forgotten what I came into the room for! Am I an 85 yr old trapped in a 20 something’s body or am I just taking on too many tasks at once? I’d like to think the latter. ;)
[For the rest of the tips, see here.]
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What I am starting to realize is that I don’t have to do everything at the same time.
Things. Can. Wait.
My mind is not at peace when I am focusing simultaneously on 10 different tasks.
While I do not think that multi-tasking is inherently bad (it obviously can come in quite handy at times!!!), I do think it can be harmful if taken to the extreme.
My Action Plan:
I planned out today’s task in blocks in my Gmail calendar:
While I do not consider my workout the most important part of my day, history tells me that if I do not do it first thing, it often gets skipped!
I start my workday with my most important task, which is baking my orders. Without this, no orders can be shipped out.
I normally would not have scheduled 2 interviews in the middle of a long baking day and so far apart. In retrospect, I should have booked the interviews back to back, first thing in the morning so I would have the day clear for baking. On the other hand, it may provide a needed break in my day so it may just work.
With my afternoon interview, this doesn’t leave me much time to pack and ship out my orders before end of day. 3-4pm will be a crazy hour today trying to get it all done.
Hubby gets home + dinner + clean-up. Emails and packing for our weekend trip.
We always end our day, no matter how busy, with some down time together. Friday night will be a movie night!
My Goals for Day 1:
- Focus on the task at hand, the one task at hand during that hour, whenever possible
- Stop mindlessly going onto the computer when I am supposed to be doing something else
- Schedule breaks! You can see a couple places in the calendar where I have 15 mins. with nothing (before each interview). This will give me a bit of downtime before switching to the next task.
- Check off tasks as I go to feel accomplished
Will I be more productive and accomplish more than when I multitask? We shall see. :)
Are you a crazy multitasker like me? Do you do a million things at once or are you good at focusing on the task at hand?
Multitasking is the art of distracting yourself from two things you’d rather not be doing by doing them simultaneously. ~Unknown
In some situations multi-tasking CAN be a good thing, but when it gets out of hand, you end up losing sight of what’s important and sacrificing your best effort. It’s so important to learn to multi-task in a POSITIVE way, and also have the ability to stop when need be. :)
xxoo
Heather
There is a program called Thunderbird that allows you to compile all your email addresses together in one inbox. It still keeps your mail separate in its individual accounts, but it’s all there in one place for ya! Good luck with the de-multi-tasking :)
totally needed this today- i have so much on my plate!!!! i have ADD and multitasking because I am always jumping from one thing to another. Keeps my mind engaged, but I don’t know that it is the most productive thing!
I am a crazy multi-tasker, much like yourself, but also full of anxiety. Recently, I’ve found that having more than 1 email account (I have three) is a little cumbersome. In the future, I’ll definitley need to consolidate these just like you mentioned. Good luck with everything!
I’m such a multi-tasker! It’s crazy!
I am definitely a multi-tasker, but not nearly as bad as I used to be. I’ve started making to do lists at work and trying tackle the items one at a time. I realized multi-tasking wasn’t working so well when I started to make a few (minor) mistakes.
I’m definitely going to check out the article you linked. The 40:20 method sounds like a brilliant way to work!
I’m a multi-tasker too, only for some reason things are taking longer than normal just now. If I set times, I always run over-time, then I don’t know what to do. I prefer the morning workout too… now if only I could get the fiance out of the apartment earlier so he doesn’t see me making an idiot of myself ;-)
Awesome post!
You should watch (500) Days of Summer. Sooooo cute. It’s not a chick flick – if your hubby’s willing to widdle his middle, he can watch this.
Happy Friday!
I have been seriously lacking motivation the past couple days. This post really helped. I’ve already got half my chores done. Thanks Angela
I love multitasking. I definitely do it a lot at work but at home not so much. Right now I have enough time to things one at a time :)
Thank you for digging up some research on this! When I try to multi-task with everything I do, nothing gets done, much less done efficiently. I think it helps to list the kinds of things you can multitask on efficiently, and most of the time I find that the important things need to be done in a focused way.
I am a serial multi-tasker. I think you’ve made some great suggestions for ways that I can realign my focus and accomplish more in each day.
I am the worst multi-tasker. I can never do just one thing at once and I really need to fix that!!
I love that you have time set for checking email! I *so* need to do that because I tend to check in all day, especially when I have outlook open and it :pings: whenever I get one.
I like to really focus on one thing at a time. I find it helps me concentrate, do a good job and finish in a time efficient way. Then I move on to the next and the next… Seems to work best for me but everyone is different!
a little of both, but at work it’s multitasking to the max! makes me feel like a crazy person too…i think i’ll start planning in the 40:20 blocks like you suggested :)
dang girl, you are busy! but i like your calendar how it is all blocked out in times. and good tips too!
I’m going to have to try this. I consider myself to be pretty good at multitasking, but I know I could be more efficient if I did one thing at a time!
I’m totally a crazy multi-tasker like you! I loved your comment about going to the computer to do one thing and then realizing you’ve done something entirely different (as in this case, I decided to read “just a few” blogs. . . ) ;) One question: I don’t see a block for “write (or post) blog entry” in your day–so do you just fit that in, or do you pre-schedule posts? Doing a blog entry would take a huge chunk out of my schedule!
I typically write my post at night. This post was written Thurs night for example. However for Saturday’s post, I will write it while in the car on our long 3 hour road trip (Eric has an internet stick).
I love using my Gmail calendar to schedule my day out like that!
I still consider it multi-tasking though – over one day, you’ve accomplished many tasks! ;-)