One Thing At A Time

Doing One Thing At A Time has always been a challenge for me. I’m a multitasking queen with a to do list to match, constantly on the go and always ready for a new adventure. Yet my most productive days are always my most focused days.

Confessions of a Multi-Tasking Queen

If you came into my house on any given day, you might find the lights still set up from a food photography session, my groceries that were delivered that morning half unpacked (all the perishables put away but the dry goods still out), the dishwasher half unloaded and the laundry sitting by the washer. There might be a half packed (or unpacked!) suitcase lying around as well. It feels like I often start what seems like a million tasks and properly finish none of them.

My mind is always on my to do list, wondering when I’ll find the time to get out to run that errand and what I’m going to cook for dinner. I might need to phone the florist, pick up some light bulbs and buy sour cream at the grocery store. I’ll likely check my email in the middle of writing a blog post. I’m definitely not doing one thing at a time.

Sound familiar? This isn’t multitasking; this is madness.

Many of Us Struggle to Do One Thing at a Time

I know I’m not alone. Friends, family and colleagues talk of being ‘frazzled’ and ‘burnt out’ by the pace of modern life. Our attention is being pulled in multiple directions at once. We are talking on the phone while reading our email, helping our kids with their homework while catching up on paperwork or driving while thinking about the conversation we need to have with our boss or significant other. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve asked someone ‘how are you?’ and they’ve answered ‘busy’.

It’s a strange thing – ‘busy’. I overhear conversations where people try to outdo one another in terms of just how busy they are. How many deadlines, how many activities, how long their ‘to do’ list is – it’s like a bizarre competition. Worse, I’ve actually been part of these conversations, uncomfortably realising halfway through that something is really very wrong.

Busy Doesn’t Equal Important

Busy is a badge of courage these days. Nobody gets praised for doing one thing at a time, properly.

Is it just about feeling needed and important? A work ethic has always been a praise worthy thing; no one wants to be considered lazy. And no one wants to miss out on the newest, latest activity or ‘thing’. No one wants to get ‘left behind’. So we kid ourselves into thinking we are capable of multitasking.

The very word ‘multitasking’ is in itself an oxymoron. Human beings really cannot do more than one thing at a time properly.

Don’t believe me? Have you ever arrived at a destination in your car and when you parked, been unable to remember the journey? Or realised that you have absolutely no idea what your spouse or one of your children just said to you because you were actually concentrating on something else while you were ‘listening’? Or gotten to the end of the day and realised that while you have worked on several projects, you haven’t actually completed even one? Yep, me too.

Get That Wonderful Feeling Of Accomplishment By Doing One Thing At A Time

The other risk to multitasking is that instead of being suffused with a rewarding feeling of accomplishment when we do complete one task, we spend the majority of our time feeling stressed and anxious as we try to do several things at once. While tasks eventually do get completed, I’m pretty sure it would happen a lot more quickly and we would enjoy the process more if we didn’t try to do everything at the same time.

We have two choices. We can carry on multitasking until we burn out, something falls apart or someone gets hurt, or we can find ways of helping ourselves to learn to step away from this madness. While this is still very much a work in progress for me, here are some techniques I am finding helpful.

How To Do One Thing At A Time

Be gentle with yourself
It took humans over a generation to develop into multitasking; it is going to take us at least a few weeks to learn how to focus on one task at one time. It takes a lot of discipline to do just one thing at a time. Don’t beat yourself up if you find it difficult.

Concentrate
If your mind wanders, remind yourself of what you are doing and let the thought float away. If it comes back, write it down, finish what you are doing and then deal with it. If you start to do something else by mistake, stop and go back to your original task.

If something truly important happens to distract you, stop what you are doing, set it aside and really concentrate on the new thing.
Ever been accused of ‘not really listening’? If someone important needs to talk to you, set what you are doing aside and actually listen to them. Don’t keep working or check your phone while you are ‘listening’. Chances are you really won’t hear, and you might give someone important to you a wrong or incomplete answer. Not many things make someone feel more impotent than not being heard.

Stop judging yourself and others by how ‘busy’ they are.
We need to make a real effort not to allow how much we have to do to validate us. Busy does not equal important.

Be reasonable about the amount you expect to accomplish.
If your To Do list has more than ten items on it, prioritise it and divide it up into sections. There are only 24 hours in a day.

Let go of negative emotions
It’s easy to become addicted to many things, and emotional states are one of them. We all know people who seem to be addicted to drama; we can become just as addicted to that frazzled, busy feeling too. Instead, allow yourself to enjoy a rich feeling of accomplishment when you do complete a task.

Don’t hold yourself to standards higher than those to which you would hold others.
I don’t know anyone without full time staff that has a house that is perfectly clean and organised all the time. Nor do I know anyone who has an empty in tray at work for more than a few hours. No one has it all together in every area of their life, and it is very unfair to expect it of yourself.

Celebrate Your Accomplishments

Whether you’ve written a book or just got the laundry done, revel in the sense of accomplishment that follows. Treat or praise yourself, or even give yourself a gold star.

What about you? Is it easy for you to focus, or do you have trouble doing just one thing at a time? Or do you honestly believe it’s just not possible? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments.

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