It's a short work week this week. And a non-week next week (better known as VACATION), which means crazy town in my brain as I try to prepare to leave work and busy business time and get everything together for travel (crisis of the moment: it is apparently SNOWING in the mountain town I've been planning for months on hiking in shorts [kill me now. Or then, it this cold front keeps up]).
Distraction is no stranger to my work day (I tend to blame the Facebook mentality [productivity 140,characters at a time], my monkey mind, birth order [younger children have less structure], being too capable for my own good, or being a millennial wholly lacking in work ethic) and I've done the rounds of self help books (post on that to come). There is, unfortunately, no panacea for distraction, but here's my current method for getting it back together when my brain is spinning, or even focused -just not on the right things at the right time.
To Get Shtuff Done:
1. Stop multi-tasking
It is scientifically proven that women multitask well (better than men at least). Doesn't mean it's good. Someone posted on Facebook the other day that "monotasking is the new multitasking." Why? Because doing 10 things halfway is still worse than doing one thing all the way.
So close browser tabs, unsent emails, open programs. Put away your phone and your snacks or whatever else you sneak peeks at when the whim arises.
It is scientifically proven that women multitask well (better than men at least). Doesn't mean it's good. Someone posted on Facebook the other day that "monotasking is the new multitasking." Why? Because doing 10 things halfway is still worse than doing one thing all the way.
So close browser tabs, unsent emails, open programs. Put away your phone and your snacks or whatever else you sneak peeks at when the whim arises.
2. Complete Something. Anything.
Productivity builds off itself, as does being a totally useless tool of a person, frittering away time on endless preparing, research, and perfecting.
Productivity builds off itself, as does being a totally useless tool of a person, frittering away time on endless preparing, research, and perfecting.
Do. Anything. Do like done. I recommend cleaning your work space (productivity double whammy)(even cleaning out my purse works, and there's little potential there for a rabbit hole of other tasks). Also, paying a bill online. Even I'd it's not due yet. Especially if it's not due yet (extra Responsible Points). Anything that takes less than 5 minutes gives you the productivity
It's addicting and makes you want to do more.
3. Set a distraction time limit
This should maybe go first, because it's really a non-action. Sometimes you get distracted when you're fighting whatever thing you want to do so much that you can't scratch the itch. So scratch the itch! Take a walk, Facebook for 5 minutes, stare at the wall for ten. But do it all the way and don't feel bad about it. Get it out of your system.
This should maybe go first, because it's really a non-action. Sometimes you get distracted when you're fighting whatever thing you want to do so much that you can't scratch the itch. So scratch the itch! Take a walk, Facebook for 5 minutes, stare at the wall for ten. But do it all the way and don't feel bad about it. Get it out of your system.
This here blog post is an exercise of setting a distraction time limit. Instead of writing a sentence or two between tasks, but thinking more of my next sentence than my task, just give in for a minute. And you're ready to go.
And now I'm ready to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment