CLICK HERE TO GET A PDF COPY OF THIS POST >>
THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF FOCUS
Have you been conditioned to believe multi-tasking can make you more productive? For years I believed that multitasking through my day would exponentially leverage my time. What it actually did was leave me more emotionally drained, less creative, and tired. Still I pushed on, spurned to greater effort by efficiency gurus and prevailing wisdom. We know now that multi-tasking is actually COUNTER PRODUCTIVE.
According to a study done by Dr. Amit Sood, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, when you multi-task your brain is jumping back and forth between all those tasks. Each jump "depletes energy", which explains why a full day of multi-tasking wears you out. You actually accomplish less rather than more. You can read about this in The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living.
There is another negative side effect to multi-tasking. When you practice this habit regularly you begin to multi-task your life's mission. For me this manifests in the form of distractions. I have lots of interests, business (I must have 100's of business ideas!), music, church, entertainment choices, etc... At times I've fooled myself into believing I could engage in all my interests simultaneously, i.e... multi-task, while maintaining a clear direction and purpose in my life mission. It doesn't work, at least not for me.
[Tweet "Multi-tasking accomplishes LESS instead of more ..from @RichardYadon "]
To truly live your life mission, to follow the path of your passion driven purpose, you must trade multi-tasking for FOCUS. This is not easy with some much in our culture vying for our attention. It is especially hard if you have become a devoted practitioner of multi-tasking. Here is a simple formula to keep you focused on what is important:
F - Find what is first, your immediate priority.
O - Offload what is distracting you from the first priority.
C - Confess(admit) you are out of focus.
U - Undertake a quick plan to get back on priority
S - Start moving on your quick plan
The next time your day, or your life, is getting pulled apart by trying to multi-task your way to success, try this quick formula. See if you can't leverage the incredible power of FOCUS to drive you farther and faster in your journey.
Tell me about your experience with multi-tasking below...