For instance. Every morning I have a routine that involves many multi-tasking elements. Beginning with the fact that each morning I actually set my alarm 15 minutes earlier than I intend to wake up so that I can "think about the day ahead" while I semi-snooze for 15 more minutes. I have no idea if this is really effective, but I do it every morning. Half the time I fall into a weird dream state that doesn't get me anywhere but more confused for when it's time to actually start the day.
Then I do a series of things that I suppose most people do (?). I shave my legs while the conditioner sets in my hair. I plan my outfit while I brush my teeth. I make my lunch while I toast my bagel.
But what I'm realizing is multi-tasking like that only works for what the name suggests: tasks. Multi-tasking does not work in the workplace where you need to be churning out value-added thought contributions. I cannot tell you how many times I have worked on a volume call or pricing optimization while I was on a conference call and then have no clue what the call was about.
So the past couple of days I've tried two things that have helped significantly.
- Normally when I'm working on something for an extended period of time other thoughts/concerns pop up. I've now started a "catch-all" piece of paper when I'm trying to focus. I set the amount of time I'm going to work on a specific job and any extra thoughts that crowd my head I just write down so that they are captured but not to be thought of until I'm done with Job 1.
- I gratuitously reward myself. Seriously. Things like "Ok, finish x job and then you can go get a coffee." or "Answer 20 e-mails and then you can read cnn.com for 15 minutes." Tonight I applied it towards Goal 1. Instead of letting myself go and eat dinner I made myself study for an hour first. Maybe a little extreme - but it worked.
Progress is being made.
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