Permission to Focus on One Thing at a Time - Granted
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
So many of us think that if we want to get more done, we need to do more at one time. But what if the secret to getting more done is ruthlessly focusing on just one thing at a time, completing that one thing, and then focusing on the next?
According to Kim Kardashian, focusing on just one thing at a time is a secret to her success. If she’s in mom mode, then she’s only focusing on her kids. If she’s got work to do for one of her companies, then she focuses on that work. She takes one task, fully commits to it with her attention and energy, and once it’s complete, she completely moves on to the next thing. She knows that multitasking is an impossibility for the vast majority of us human beings. Almost all human beings can only process one thing at a time in our brain’s prefrontal cortex, so trying to focus on more than one thing at a time is actually just costing all of us precious time.
Sure, most of us can walk and have a conversation at the same time, but that’s because we’ve gotten so good at walking that we don’t need to consciously think about it anymore. Watching babies take their first steps and the amount of concentration it takes for them reminds us that even walking took a lot of thinking at one point in our lives. Or we can drive and listen to an audiobook, but again, only after we’ve practiced driving for a long time and if we’re on a well-established route that we’ve habitually driven. Try listening to an audiobook if you’re navigating to a novel place. Chances are high that you won’t hear any of the book, or you’ll miss turns.
So instead of trying to multitask, give yourself permission to laser focus on one thing at a time to completion, and then moving onto the next task. You’ll probably be surprised that by taking on just one bite at a time, you actually get more done.
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team