Focus Your Energy & Be More Productive!

Are you a multi-tasker? If so, you may be interested to know that research shows you may be better off focusing your energy!

In our fast-paced society, we find ourselves pulled in many different directions at the same time. We seem to love to be able to multi-task and brag about how many projects we are working at one time.

In fact, we live in a society that seems to wear it as a badge of honor for doing so.

But did you know that there are some big downsides to multi-tasking?

Multi-tasking greatly increases our chances of making mistakes as well a missing important information.

Not surprising, right?

If, however, you can discipline yourself to give your full attention and focus to the task hand, you will ultimately be more creative, have fewer mistakes, and be able to finish the task faster than if you were jumping around from project to project.

Of course, this doesn't mean you can't have more than one project at a time. I have MANY long-term projects going all the time.

For example, this past week I was building a new website, writing my book, developing a training curriculum, buying a second beach house, writing this email, and much more, but (as much as practically possible) giving my undivided attention to each for whatever period of time I set to work on it.

Take a look at this image to give us some perspective. If you have seven projects that need your attention and decide that you are going to spend a little time on each one essentially all at the same time, how far are you going to get on any one of them?

But what if you choose one project at a time and give it your full attention?

Think of the progress you can make on that one task, possibly even get it completed and marked off your list.

What a feeling of accomplishment you will have at the end of the day as opposed to feeling a sense of frustration that you really didn't accomplishment very much!

So how do you determine what task you need to work on?

In this book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey developed a time management program to help us determine what tasks we should focus our energy on and what can be put off. In this program, he breaks our tasks into four different areas as listed below.

Urgent & Important.

Urgent & Not Important.

Not Urgent & Important.

Not Urgent & Not Important.

The list above is not properly ordered.

Obviously, the "Urgent & Important" should be priority #1 and put at the top of your to-do-list.

Resist the urge to put "Urgent & Not Important" second, ahead of "Not Urgent & Important." Why? Because even though it's Urgent, if it's NOT important, it's NOT IMPORTANT!

Do the Important work before it becomes Urgent, rather than staying busy doing the Urgent & Not Important work, and possibly never getting to the Important work!

Many things seem Urgent in the moment, making it feel important, but it's not.

Stay focused on the Important! This should be your correct priority:

Urgent & Important.

Not Urgent & Important.

Urgent & Not Important.

Not Urgent & Not Important.

Got it?

So why not give it a try this next week? Make yourself a to-do-list on Sunday night or first thing Monday morning of ALL the tasks you want to accomplish over this next week and use the outline above to determine what needs to be at the top of your list.

Then set out to accomplish as many of these tasks as you can giving each your undivided attention when you are working on them.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised how many you were able to complete by the end of the week.