One thing at a time

Have you ever seen anyone working on their computer while watching Netflix in the background, or listening to a podcast or maybe texting every few mins? Perhaps it’s you? I honestly have no idea how these people can work like this—it seems bizarre. Here I am, who can’t even manage a single task, and these demigods of productivity are doing three things at once. I will choose to believe that they are full of shit. :)

I think we lose the ability to focus once we start creating an environment of distraction and hyper-stimulation, essentially training our mind to be scattered. If our mind is used to switching focus from one thing to another, repeatedly over days and months, eventually that will be the only way it knows how to do anything.

And that’s where you lose it—that sharp, one-minded focus that is the key to excellence in anything you do, that which separates average work from extraordinary work.

We should do one thing at a time, keeping our focus and attention on that one task. Even if it’s as simple as watching a TV show or listening to an entertaining podcast. We should do that with intention, not as background noise.

Intention is the precursor to focus: set your intention and then proceed with focus. Doing multiple things at once, even when we are marginally successful, is mostly busywork. You could have either done that work in half the time if you actually split it up, or you could have done it way better than what you did just now. Work on one task at a time. Play some background atmospheric soundscapes while working, like cafe, rain, dunes (my favorite), or wind, etc. Turn off all notifications and focus on the task at hand. Do this for 40 minutes and then take a 5-minute breather: stretch, check the notifications if you must, and then do another 40 minutes of work. Slowly start to keep away from distractions in between as well.