Category: multitasking

Categories
Boundaries multitasking Planning Positive Thinking

4 steps to focus after life gets in the way

Weather crisis? Health crisis? Name your crisis.

Today, the topic is how to refocus after a crisis.

Small or large, life will always get in the way of your big plans; it’s just the way it is. 

In the last workshop that I did (Time management for the distracted entrepreneur), we talked about four things that will distract us. Those were: extreme weather, cash crunch, too much to do, but belt tightening, or some combination of these things. 

Recently, I’ve had one of my community members cite that they had major damage to their home (this is the extreme weather which we are all experiencing right now!) As a result, this can  have a lot of impact on our homes. This entrepreneur had to leave their home, which had an impact on their business – and I do not want your business to go down the toilet because of extreme weather! So let’s discuss steps that you can take when not if life gets in the way. 

  1. Completely accept what is happening. Be in agreement with what’s going on. Too often, we’re in disagreement with what is happening. When we ONLY wish it weren’t happening, we’re not in agreement with it.  We’re then unable to take the next step as we’re so busy being in denial. 
  1. Get quiet. Go inward and really ask yourself what you deeply want. This is, of course, after the “fire has been put out” (so to speak, or the flood or whatever is going on!) You need to deal with the crisis as it presents itself, and it doesn’t have to last forever. When you do that, think about three months out, six months out, what do you want your life, your business, your situation to be like? 
  1. Work backwards. Watch out for this pitfall, though: don’t believe that you must have the whole plan mapped out before you start.
  1. Start. Begin with one step. For example, this community member that I was working with was asking “How do I focus 9because of what’s happened)?” I asked “well, what has helped you focus in the past?” This person said “Well, usually sitting down and getting a daily plan together.” I agreed! 

Dear reader, I think you might want to try it, too. Try this! After you do your morning routine (you wake up, stretch, shower, have your coffee, etc), ask yourself:

  • What are my priorities today? 
  • What might get in the way? 
  • What is my one priority out of everything? 
  • And how does that relate to that thing that I said I wanted in three or six months? 

That’s just to get you started. With those four steps, I believe that you can emerge from whatever your crisis is. 

For more information and next best steps:

  • Download the free guide to help you get through all the steps: decide, discern, discover, practice, and celebrate. 
  • Come to my next free gathering on Zoom (the Wisdom Warriors). That’s going to be at 12pm EST on Monday October 2nd.
  • Join my UnscatterMe community on Facebook and we can have conversations about this. 
  • Set up a complimentary phone call with me to find out what your personal challenges are and what roadmap you might be able to go on. 

None of these things will cost you any money. 

You can certainly ask me about how I could help you in a more accelerated way for faster results that are tailored exactly to you. Just hit replay, and I’ll be happy to talk to you about that. In the meantime, please use these free resources to get yourself unstuck from the crises that inevitably will happen because they do. 

Have a great day.

Categories
More time in my day multitasking prioritize Productivity Time strategies

A new viewpoint when considering how to “Take Charge of Your Time.”

Time…how do you define it? Here are 2 terms referring to TIME.

Chronos or Kairos? What does this mean to you, if anything? Are we in ancient Greece yet? How are these two Time Definitions affecting my productivity?

The difference profoundly affects how we live our lives.

When we think about time in the abstract, or Chronos, there’s not generally a sense of urgency. While this can be helpful in some cases, it can also be a breeding ground for procrastination. Conversely, Kairos embodies time in our lives. Kairos says, “if I want to ‘be successful’ at my job, I need to nail down what means, and take some action as my first step.”

When reading studies by psychologists, there are 2 kinds of regret based on the age of the subject being interviewed. People their 20s regretted poor choices that got them into trouble or caused embarrassment. These range from cheating on exams to romantic interests/failures. As a result, the younger set seeks to avoid risks so that they are in the “safe zone.” Conversely, people in their 70s and 80s regretted not taking MORE chances. Their mantra is “do it while you can.” Perhaps they wanted to switch careers or learn to tap dance, but they did not act. They see the value of acting when the time is ripe.

The lesson in this? You guessed it. We’re talking about the value of goal setting, and more importantly, step-by-step goal ACHIEVING. We all have “Chronos” in our lives. Chronos tells us there will be a time to do this or that. And, he is right. There will be. But Kairos reminds us that if we wait forever, we’ll look back and wonder what happened. We might even find ourselves saying,

“Where did the time go?”

If you are ready to put Chronos in his place, and start taking action for a change, please read the article below, download the 7 steps to success, or call me for a complimentary time breakthrough session.

Finish 2016 with the pride in knowing you are poised for an even more successful 2017. I know you can.

Categories
multitasking

Some things that are impossible: pigs flying, hating pictures of kittens, and multitasking.


Wait, what?

It’s true! Multitasking is impossible. At least, multitasking in the often misunderstood sense of doing two things at once. As NPR explains, you cannot split your active, working consciousness between two tasks; you can only switch your focus between the two very quickly. This is due to interference between processes, so that while your attention may be divided between tasks, your poor brain cannot share the tools it needs to complete them. Think you’re writing a grocery list and reciting pi at the same time? Think again! Your brain is merely doing its best to remember the word for cucumber before it comes up with the 11th digit (5) in a matter of milliseconds.

This constant flitting between ideas and objectives has been reliably shown to reduce effectiveness when the brain is too divided. A University of Utah study found that only a tiny fraction of people – around 2% – could perform multiple tasks without any negative impact on their overall performance. They also found that this microcosm of multitaskers received this gift genetically. If you’re not one of the lucky few, don’t try and exercise your brain for superhuman focusing abilities. For most of us, effective multitasking is far out of reach.

Someone should let the modern world know that. For most of us, multitasking is a reality of our day-to-day lives, like cursing (while driving) at the person who is talking on their phone (while driving). Multitasking is especially endemic to our workplaces, where we navigate emails and texts and countless other stimuli, hoping that our ability to be efficient will prevail. It doesn’t. A Stanford study examined the habits of heavy multitaskers and discovered that those who rely on multitasking frequently are often the worst at it, performing tasks much more slowly and with less success than their singularly focused peers. Forbes also reports on a University of London study’s findings: “Participants who multitasked during cognitive tasks experienced IQ score declines that were similar to what they’d expect if they had smoked marijuana or stayed up all night.”

This is no way to be a productive worker and manager of your time. So how can you be more effective? According to Stanford researcher Clifford Nass, dedicating 20-minute blocks of time allows your brain time to focus and attune to a single goal, reducing the time and confusion caused by multitasking’s shuffle of ideas.

And in the Get Organized System course, we will see that it doesn’t take much to see the benefits of focus. By choosing to not multitask for just 90 minutes, a worker can save 5 ½ to 6 ½ weeks of working time per year. That’s even more time to get more done, and with focus, productive time snowballs, rather than the avalanche of confusion and work multitasking creates.

Slow and steady, as Aesop so wisely said. Perhaps you can remind yourself of his words between your 23rd email and 2nd phone conference of the day. Just be sure to stop and let them sink in when you do.

Categories
EpS Events Get Organized More time in my day multitasking productivity in the workplace Time strategies Uncategorized

Feeling Busy this Fall? Multitask away- or not.

Fall = busier. Enter multitasking.  It’s the way to do more things in less time, right?

Maybe not. Recently I read an article by Melissa Balmain entitled Confessions of a Recovering Multitasker.  Melissa writes,

“imagine my surprise at learning that, technically, [multitasking] does not exist.  We can’t think about two tasks at once.  Instead, our brains ping-pong between them wasting precious seconds of time and causing errors to pile up”.

In the day, no matter how hard you try, does it ever seem possible to get through everything that you set out to do in the morning? Do you attempt to do two tasks – or more – at once?  Perhaps the reason for the failure is BECAUSE you are trying to do multiple things at one time.

In her article, Melissa writes of a phone conversation she had with a good friend while also trying to make dinner and the ensuing result was a burnt meal and a conversation that she could not remember.  I myself have had phone conversations such as these, where my attentions are distracted so far elsewhere, that it barely registers that my friend is telling me something that should require my undivided attention.  So, clearly, my efforts to try and accomplish more things in less time were fruitless, and just like Melissa, I was left feeling guilty and unaccomplished.

So what’s the solution? If we can’t multitask without the results being more unproductive than not, how on earth do we accomplish all that needs to be done?  The answer, counter-intuitive to many, is focusing on one single thing at a time. Try this experiment and let me know how you do. When you begin a task, such as writing a “typical” report that you write, estimate how long it will take. Write down your start time. Go about your business in the normal manner, answering calls, emails, etc. as you are doing the report. Write the end time. Now, another day try this again with a similar report.  Write down your start time. This time, commit to shutting off your email and turning off your ringer. Do not answer anyone who comes in unless they are in a true emergency situation. When you are finished, write down your end time. What is the difference? How does the first report on the first day compare with the estimate? How about the second day and the second report? Statistics and “real life” experiments that I have conducted show an average 50% time savings with single-tasking. How did you do?

 

Are you ready to save about half your time to have an ultra-productive fall? Relax, take a deep breath, and do things one step at a time.

  • © 2024
  • Productivity Success Cake