I have previously mentioned theEben Pagan program Wake Up Productive and one of the key principles taught is clear focus – simply put, this is do one thing at a time.
Yesterday, my dear friend Ron Rink over at Buddhist Belief made one of his excellent thought provoking posts on….doing one thing at a time.
Then I came across a recent post from another favourite writer Leo Babauta at Zen Habits which is….you guessed it….all about doing one thing at a time.
Having prided myself on my multi-tasking abilities (the use of the word ‘pride’ is a bit of a give away) I have rather poo-poohed the growing movement which has advocated focus but the time has come to acknowledge that it works!
I have spent nearly a whole day bringing this site up to date. Doing all of the little hum-drum tasks that need doing, tidying posts, updating links, writing new articles and every cell of my body has rebelled wanting to check email, participate on Twitter, make phone calls, attend to chores and do anything else that caught my eye whilst at the same time trying to do what needed to be done. That was my usual modus operandi, to be sure, and as a result I tended to finish each day with a task list of half done jobs which all had to roll forward to another time.
Today, as a result of letting my pride go and recognising that multi-tasking is not a sign of strength or efficiency, or whatever other label I had applied to it at some subconscious level, I have done one thing at a time and as a result have completed that job. I also feel less frazzled and have energy left to enjoy the evening.
OK, you may roll your eyes, unimpressed. You may have a voice saying ‘so what’. You may be thinking all sorts of things but until you try this for yourself you will not appreciate how liberating such a simple thing can be.
Will you try it and let me know how you get on?
I have to endorse everything you say – I have always been one to do one thing, whilst listening to something else (and taking notes!), have the phone clamped under my chin and just to keep the other eye busy watching the Twitter feed! It doesn’t work.
I am making strenuous efforts to work with as near a paper free desk as possible and that almost forces you to focus on one thing at a time – and I am so much more productive and efficient….
It is so wonderful to see you and our dear friend flaminglacer” writing regularly again.
Also, thanks for the link to Zen Habits and the link to my blog.
Mostly, I want to encourage you to continue looking for ways to simplify life. Focusing on one task at a time is so powerful. In many ways, it fits right in with the mantra of the Marketing Mavens (which I’m sure to misquote — sorry!) “Real People Providing Real Value for Real People”.
As I said in my blog “Use the time you spend on these tasks as quality meditation time. This is the way. This is enlightened living. We’re doing it anyway, we might as well REALLY be doing it …”
Whenever we choose to BE in the present — to be focused on what we’re doing in the moment — we’re opening ourselves to wisdom and truth.
Be well — be in peace…