Most of us think we are stressed out by doing stuff all day…Is
it? If you introspect well enough, you would realize that stress arises really
from repeated thinking about the same “stuff” throughout the day. David Allen
(GTD fame), the world renowned productivity guru calls this as “Open loop”…non-negotiated
commitments on a task or project. When you have more than a couple of such open
loops there is loss of concentration as well. Overall, this manifests as a
stress (the distress, that we can live without).
The reason for this is because, Human beings are really
driven by a single processor with acute inability to undertake more than one complex
activity at a time. This may sound surprising or even irritating to you especially
given that Multi-tasking as a competency
takes the pride of its place in the Corporate Resumes. If you are one such soul
who would want to engage in a debate with me , I would like you to collect the
number of instance where High level executives who had drowned their
blackberries in their commode ! so much so for multi-tasking ! It really lowers
our IQ levels resulting in Quantity and Quality issues at work.
So what is the solution? Serializing and Single-tasking. Leo Babauta , author of Zen to Done
(productivity book) asks people to take to Single-tasking…focus on one task at
a time using the following steps:
Step 1: Create a To-do list of
activities for the day …(How to do this is a big topic by itself?). Anyway don’t
worry for now
Step 2: Choose an activity to do
based on its importance…the more important the task ,the better
Step 3: Understand why you want to
do this task ? ...its purpose
Step 4: Allocate a specified time bundle (
10 minutes to an hour) for un-distracted focus on this task
Step 5: As you work on the task,notice your urges to take a break, to browse
, to check email , to have an impromptu meeting or to discontinue the current
task.... but stay on with the task. this is the most important aspect of single-tasking
Step 6: Pause when you are done …really
once you are through with the task based on the above steps, do not rush to the
next task. Pause and ruminate how successfully you accomplished the tasks.
Savor it and you deserve a break !
Multi-tasking is Out ! Single-tasking is In! So Jump in !
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