Today is day four in the series from my guest blogger, Rodger Constandse.
While there are many myths about time management, there are two that come up again and again.
Myth # 1 – The Myth of Willpower
This is a common myth because most of us have been taught that willpower is the key to achieving our most important goals. But guess what? While it does play a role, willpower is not the answer.
That’s right. Willpower is NOT the answer.
Why? Because researchers are now discovering that willpower works a lot like a muscle. You have a limited amount of willpower and you can quickly “use it up” if you keep pushing or spreading yourself too thin.
Imagine that you have to ride a bike to get to work and you have to choose between two roads that can get you there.
One road goes up a hill with a very gradual incline. It’s not particularly steep, but enough for you to notice the extra effort that you have to use to get to the top.
The second road is just a bit longer, but is pretty much flat and even all the way into town.
Which road would you take?
The second one, right?
Because even though it’s a bit longer, the second road will be much easier and take a lot less effort.
Well, your environment, systems and tools are a lot like those roads. They can make the difference between a nice flat road, and one that is inclined and requires much more effort and willpower to get to the same place.
So instead of relying on willpower alone, take a close look at your environment, systems and tools to see if they are creating friction and making things more difficult for you than they need to be.
That’s what an effective time management system can do for you. Rather than having to constantly fight and struggle against the current, it can help you do the same amount of work with less effort and willpower.
Myth # 2 – The Myth of Multitasking
Have you ever tried to talk to someone on the phone while typing an email or surfing the web? How about working on tasks of different projects at the same time?
Multitasking is something that many people have tried at one point or another in an attempt to boost productivity or save time.
In fact, most people assume that multitasking helps them be more productive, but is that really true?
In some cases, like cleaning up the rest of the house while the washer is doing the laundry, or answering emails while you are waiting for a huge file to download, multitasking really does boost productivity.
However, for the vast majority of knowledge-based tasks, multitasking actually decreases productivity.
Researchers have discovered that multitasking is an inefficient way to work because your brain has to keep changing its “context” as you move from task to task, and that wastes time and effort.
While this research focuses on people that do multiple tasks at the same time, like typing an email while talking on the phone, the same principle applies when you jump from one unrelated task to another.
You have to “switch gears” before you can become fully productive. For complex mental work, it can take up to fifteen minutes to reach this state of maximum productivity.
So it’s important to consider the types of tasks you’re working on. Multitasking may be OK if the work you’re doing isn’t mentally intensive, like listening to music while exercising.
However, if you tried to balance your checkbook while helping your child with his or her homework, you might end up doing a poor job at both and taking longer than if you did each task separately.
Multitasking usually leads to lower quality work because you are not fully concentrating and focusing on your main task. Distractions increase your probability of making mistakes and having to spend extra time fixing them.
With that in mind, here are some simple tips to help you eliminate multitasking…
1) Develop the habit of single handling
Just like multitasking is a habit you develop over time, you can also develop the better habit of focusing completely on a single task at a time, especially when it’s a knowledge-based task.
2) Use project blocks
One way to show that you are truly committed to completing a project, or at the very least to continue moving it forward, is to make time for it on a regular basis. Project blocks are a perfect tool to help you do this.
They also help you focus on related tasks (of the same project) for a block of time, so you reduce the multitasking penalty.
3) Reduce interruptions
You can take several steps to help you reduce the number of unnecessary interruptions while you are working at your desk. You can turn off your automatic email alerts, log off from instant messenger, and close your door when you need to focus and concentrate.
My Get Focused course (which you can win if you leave a good comment below) shows you even better ways to eliminate multitasking and reduce interruptions and distractions.
What are some of your best tips for getting focused and reducing interruptions and distractions?
Great post. I love your 2 roads analogy.
– Allison
I’m glad you debunked myth #2. While walking and chewing gum at the same time is ok (for most people), trying to do two thinking tasks at once can be really inefficient and perhaps even stressful.
I think the idea of focus is very important now that many of us are also involved with social media and other interactive services on the web. We have a lot of different “inputs” which all feed conveniently onto the same machine: the computer we’re working on. It’s easy to hop on the S.S. Avoidance, as Marc put it in his great comment yesterday, and to keep moving or cycling through things we’d rather be doing instead of focusing on one task at a time.
Plus, many social media services are both dense (with a lot of information) and scattered (with a diverse collection or range of input that doesn’t always inter-relate). If you’re like me, your Twitter feed has a wide range of tweets about a wide variety of topics coming from people doing vastly different things in different time zones. It’s easy to jump around almost randomly, but are we losing our ability to concentrate? How often do you click on the link for an article or blog post online and actually read the whole thing? (Hopefully you did with this one.)
Social media services can be very useful – and enjoyable – but they can also lead to some challenges when it comes to focus. Learning how to participate in productive ways without sacrificing other priorities (or your sanity) is becoming a very useful skill.
Another way to “flatten the road” you travel at work each day is to develop a good filing and organization system — where “good” = “one that you’re comfortable with, and can stick to.”
For many years, I believed that a messy desk was the sign of an active mind (!). Gradually, I grew past my tendency to create random piles of “TBD” paperwork, and now I can’t imagine how I got anything done that way. A clean desk and orderly workplace *really do* make it easier to find what you need, when you need it. A minute spent digging out a crucial file doesn’t sound like much, but multiply that by 100 each week, and it adds up in a hurry.
Great points about multi-tasking and interruptions, too. The always-sharp Peter Bregman touches on this in his most recent post for Harvard Business Publishing, “The Cardinal Rule of Rules” (http://bit.ly/dDozBR).
Agreed that complex tasks that require deep thought are handled best with single-minded focus and concentration. Has anyone found a good way to achieve this in an open-office-type environment?
Wow, these are things that make complete sense, and yet many of us on a daily basis continue to slip back into old habits (taking the flatter road) because its the one we know, we are familiar with it.
I suggest to plan a week at a time and adjust your schedule using a outlook, or even Achieve Planner to map your time out and do your best to stick to it.
Before you know it, it will become the ‘familiar’ track and you are making inroads to projects and tasks that were sitting there waiting for spare time that you just never seem to find.
Yes, i think we are all guilty at times of being our own worse enemy. Starting my work life in the early 90s, terms like multi-tasking, multi-skilling were supposed ways to fast track your career, as such i potentially fall victim to being the ‘Jack of all trades, master of none” A varied skill set diminishes the focus on a specialised one, even though competancy is very high, i think society today cant fathom operating at this level. Im not blowing my own trumpet here, but the key here is to focus your efforts to achieve your target goal.
My skill set is wide and varied, i love learning and will continue to do so, until the day i die, but my biggest goal right now is learning to manage my workload including life ‘load’ and knowing when i don’t have time to work on a personal interest, and rather focus on the higher goals and priorities.
I have to break my old habit of scheduling a full days work, but not accounting for breaks, interruptions and emergency work.
Im endevouring to apply the Pareto’s principle ; the 80/20 rule. This comes into effect on many levels.
80% of my income comes from 20% of my work.
80% of the work comes from 20% of my clients base
80% of my emails are trivial and 20% of emails are valuable.
A spin off of the 80/20 rule is if i plan 80% of my day i can accommodate minor interruptions/ urgent matters without derailing my schedule. Without going haywire and falling behind in my work.
Once i have started to sort this out (getting Focused), i believe i can then really have time to do a better job and have more time to do the things i like to do in my spare time. Basically being more productive!
Im sure this resonates with many of you.
Greetings fellow “commenters” on these interesting blogs.
Deadlines are helpful in staying focused. Even if they are self-imposed deadlines, i.e. setting a goal to have a certain amount of work done before lunch.
Don’t you think in an office that people present the most interruptions?
There are techniques that can be used to reduce interruptions by people. For example:
1)when people stop by your desk to talk, answer their question kindly and turn back to your work.
2) standing when someone enters the room puts you in control of the length of the interrruption
3) if someone asks for your assistance and it is not necessary that it be handled immediately, then schedule a later time to handle the matter.
4) let co-workers or family know when you need uninterrupted time. They will get on board to assist in that; they can’t help with what they are unaware of.
I think another good way to refocus and reduce distractions is to read great post like these and get motivated again.
Debbie, another tip I’ve heard for discouraging visitors to stay (which may be anathema to you as a professional organizer
) is to keep stuff piled on your guest chair so no one can sit there.
Today’s winner is Jared, for recognizing that social media has begun to shape the way we spend our time and presents a whole new set of challenges.
Jared wins a copy of Rodger’s Get Focused course, which should help him to deal with those challenges. Congratulations, Jared!
Don’t miss Rodger’s last post in this series and a chance to win one more prize.