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Is Multi-Tasking Taking You Away from Enjoying Your Life?I happened to be juggling a number of
different tasks last week. I’m sure that
is no different for many of you. One of
the things I realized I had fallen into the habit of doing was trying to use
every available minute I had to fill with some action I termed “productive”, so
I could get action moving on as many items as possible. Often this would ultimately lead me to being
stressed over how I was going to complete or perform the key task of the
moment, since my attention had now wandered from it. My attention was now diverted to other tasks
which had completion dates at a later time.
One of the terms, which has become part of our vocabulary over the last
several years, is multi-tasking. I don’t
know exactly who originated it.
Certainly as our world became more technology based, it certainly
allowed for the growth of the concept.
However, multi-tasking is certainly the nemesis of such concepts as
prioritization, focusing on your goals and persevering on what you are looking
to accomplish until it is properly completed. Anyway,
I was getting ready for a presentation that I was scheduled to do one morning
last week. I had prepared my materials
the day before. Additionally, I had
reviewed my presentation the night before and had given it a quick review in
the morning. I had a few minutes before
I had to leave for where the presentation was to be delivered when I had the
urge to just sign onto my computer, check into my e-mail, and see what may be
there. Then all of a sudden I said to
myself, “WAIT! What are you doing? You’re relaxed, prepared and looking
forward to doing this talk. Why are you
even considering getting focused on something else when you have to leave in a
few minutes to do this talk to which you are looking forward?”
Fortunately, I caught myself in time.
I then realized the last couple of days, I had also been most productive
when I concentrated on tasks one at a time, gotten them completed, and then moved
onto the next task that I had chosen to do during this day. Basically, I am a very good planner. I usually use a few minutes on the weekend to
scope out the week ahead. I’ll determine
for the week what items are coming up which have times that I cannot move,
(usually appointments or calls at already scheduled times). Then I’ll determine next the tasks I choose
to get accomplished that week, and look to slot them accordingly. When there are multiple tasks to be
accomplished, but they’re in similar locations, (such as errands to run), I’ll
look to perform them in a sequence that makes the best use of my time. I also look to make a promise to myself as to
have a starting and stopping time for my activities, so as to give myself a
chance to have time to decompress and not be so focused on getting tasks
completed.
When I gave my self a few moments to think things through I realized
that prioritization, focus and
perseverance were when I was most productive, serene and gaining a sense of
accomplishment. Multi-tasking basically
provided me stress, a sense of always rushing around, being in a hurry and a
basically uncomfortable feeling that took away from me enjoying my life. Why would I want to keep doing that to
myself? , activity to activity and
experience to experience.
Article Tags: Away From Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
ABOUT THE AUTHORTony Calabrese of Absolute Transitions provides suggestions, approaches
and information on how you may want to approach those “midlife
transition issues”, which appear to come along relatively frequently,
particularly between the ages of 45 to 60 years old. http://absolutetransitions.com.
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