One Thing At A Time

Hey man, slow down

-The Tourist (Radiohead)

One of my biggest goals for the next year is to stop multitasking, and start unitasking.  My entire life, I’ve always believed that doing many tasks at once actually leads to getting a lot more things done.

The problem is, they are not necessarily getting done well.

And I also found myself burnt out and unhappy at the end of the day.

I realized that if I wanted to change my life, I am gonna have to change my multitasking habits.

Here are some of the things I plan on doing.

I will only have one or two windows open at a time on my computer. This will allow me to focus solely on one task.

Write out a flow chart and prioritize my tasks. First accomplish Task A, then Task B, then Task C. I will then turn off cellphone and facebook chat. Then reward myself with something after the tasks are done.

I will also spend more time meditating. There are endless benefits to this one simple activity and an increased ability to focus is one of them.

One of the biggest things I need to work is my ability to listen. When I am in a conversation, I will do my best to stay focused on the other person and listen fully to what they are saying.

Making a commitment to unitask, especially for someone like me can be very challenging. Whenever I find myself tempted to start another task while in the middle of one, I’ve learned to stop and take a breather to assess the situation. There will always be things that are urgent. But I know with some awareness, I will be capable of focusing on one thing at a time and making sure it gets done well.