Why are we stressed out?

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 !