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As women, I am pretty sure multi-tasking is engrained in our DNA.
Since I work from home, staying focused has become a bit of a job within itself. At any given moment you can find me doing laundry, making lunch, answering an email ALL while on the phone with a client.
While this makes it seem like I am super productive, I often feel exhausted and unfulfilled because I’m not doing my best work. I’ve also noticed things seem to slip through the cracks MUCH easier and the more I batch task the higher my anxiety levels.
My feelings aside, research also shows that switching between tasks doesn’t save time and actually causes a 40% loss in productivity. More often than not, it likely takes you longer to finish two projects when you’re jumping back and forth than it would to finish each separately.
So lately, I’ve been focusing on being present and doing all things with intention in order to stop multitasking and actually get things done.
At night, I take out a piece of paper and map out the following day hour by hour, even accounting for commuting between meetings and errands. The next day, I try and stick to the schedule as closely as possible–focusing ONLY on the task in the time allotted.
The result: my work is better and I am more fulfilled.
Although I am a TOTAL work in progress, here are a few additional ways I try stop multitasking and boost productivity:
- Morning meditation. Hands down my day runs much smoother and I am more tolerant of others when I practice mindfulness in the AM.
- Eating the frog. I always try and tackle my hardest task first.
- Only handling emails ONCE. Meaning, when you read an email decide whether you need to respond and do so immediately. Don’t come back to it later.
- Spending time with my husband WITHOUT our phones or tv. As silly as that sounds, I’d rather spend a shorter amount of time together distraction-free than a longer time filled with interruptions.
- Hanging out in nature WITHOUT my phone. I used to call my mom or listen to podcasts while walking my dog. Don’t even get me started on a number of times I’ve almost died texting in a crosswalk. Now I use my walks to decompress, be alone with my thoughts and get the creative juices flowing.
I am super interested to hear your thoughts. I know there will be some varying options on eliminating multi-tasking, especially amongst my mommy friends. But I think we can all agree there are areas in our lives where we can stop mutlitasking. Sound off in a comment below.
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