Have you ever tried to convince yourself that you can multitask?
Do you think you’re good at multitasking?
Do you enjoy the juggling of many balls at the same time? Or having many plates spinning all at once?
Whichever metaphor you prefer, juggling lots of balls and spinning several plates, all at the same time, is only ever going to result in one thing. Dropped balls and smashed plates!
But that’s OK, as long as you accept that and are prepared for it to happen.
As long as you’re comfortable with dropping a few of those plates and having them smash on the ground in front of you, then that’s fine. Some people love the feeling of being so active, so busy, that they want to do lots of things at the same time. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s a very exhilarating and exciting way to live! It’s important however, that you do recognise it comes with consequences. And those consequences are that some of the things you’re working on, at the same time as all others, will go wrong because you’re stretched too thin.
Scientists have actually proven that multitasking isn’t a thing. You’re actually jumping from one thing to another thing, losing valuable concentration time in between, and giving neither thing your best shot whilst trying to attend to more than one thing at a time.
Having just read a book called ‘The One Thing’ by Gary Keller, I’ve been reminded that if you really want to achieve more then it helps to focus on less.
I can recommend the book. As it states on the front cover; “The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results” really is what you’ll get if you choose to read this book. And once you’ve read it, you may choose to spin less plates at the same time. Or at least you may focus purely on one plate at a time. Without letting your phone calls, emails, text messages, tweets and DMs distract you.
At the start of another week, a short week at that with only 4 days work following the bank holiday yesterday, it may help you to stay focused on your one thing today. Not six things, but one. What’s the ONE Thing you can do, such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
