Hot off the press: Singletasking
Today I’m eager to share with you what I’ve been learning about productivity. Now I KNOW you NEVER find yourself wondering IF you’ve accomplished ANYTHING in the past 24 hours or perhaps the last WEEK. BUUUUT, just in case you have experienced THAT, this is for YOU.
Productivity is all about:
Working smarter and BEING smarter
Getting more done in less time
Managing your focus
Focusing on what matters most
Feeling GREAT about completing 3-5 important tasks each day.
Want all those benefits? Follow this ONE SIMPLE STEP: MAKE SINGLETASKING HOT AGAIN
Productivity pro, Veness Loder cites a study that revealed how “multitasking with electronic media caused a GREATER decrease in IQ than smoking pot or losing a night's sleep.” Multitasking literally causes our brains to function worse than they do when smoking pot or chronically sleep deprived. (Psychology today describes sleep deprivation as a “particularly insidious” form of torture utilized by the CIA.)
Make time and save time by scheduling time. Real talk: if it’s not in my Google calendar or written in my planner it won’t happen. Scheduling ensures you’re making time for what’s most important, and minimizing time spent on anything less important. I schedule time to connect with family (most important) and I schedule time for social media (less important). Without scheduling time, I don’t connect with my family in NY and squander hours of the day in an all-consuming social media vortex where my final destination couldn’t be farther from my original intention.
Time yourself. Time yourself and see how much you can complete in 2 minutes. Embrace the anyone-can-do-anything-for-2-minutes mindset. This jump starts your progress and (if you’re writing,) leaves you eager to finish that first paragraph, that second paragraph, that last paragraph. Before you know it, you’re done. You possess a lot of knowledge, experience and intuition. Product and content creation is about sharing your unique knowledge in a way that’s helpful.
Zoom in and focus. Close those tabs. Silence your phone. Get in a physical (or head) space where you won’t be interrupted and GET IT DONE. Once I’m in this beautiful focused zone I can stay there for 30-90 minutes. Actively taking a break after a deeply focused time honors your mental and physical need to move, relax and expand from that intense focus. If you’re a 20-min focus kinda gal, I recommend checking out Vanessa Lode’s “Power Hour” in which she shares how brief stints of high focus punctuated by short breaks can be a total game changer.
What methods do you use to supercharge your productivity?