Relax and Get Everything Done!

With all the Christmas preperations around this time of year, it is easy to feel overloaded and stressed out because of everything you believe you have to do. When something like this happens - when people feel they have too much to do in too little time - they usually turn to multi-tasking in an attempt to get more done in a given period of time. The problem, of course, is that we each only have a fixed amount of conscious awareness, a certain number of attention units if you will, with which to accomplish our work. That means that as soon as we resort to splitting our attention between two tasks, each task can only receive a part of our full attention. And as you try to do more and more things in a given unit of time, you can place less and less attention to each task until you are so distracted by all the different things to do that you start making mistakes and forgetting important details.

Here's an example.

Let's say you still have a few gifts to get for Christmas. You also have to finish decorating, baking cookies in the shape of elves, wash the floors, do the laundry, workout and write a 5 page report for a course. And it all has to be done THIS weekend. How do you go about it?

Well, some will think of everything they have to do and get stressed out and try to do everything at the same time by looking over their notes for the report as they are driving to the mall to find gifts and those elf-shaped cookie shapes. They'll be thinking about the dirty floor as they walk by the baking section in kitchen wares and ask a cashier for a brand name of jeans. Then they see an exercise bike and remember that they still need to fit in a workout today. That makes them rush and pick a few more gifts before heading home and arriving frazzled because they nearly rear-ended a minivan while they were glancing at their report again. That makes them so stressed and adrenalized that they can't calm down and try to rush to write their report and get it over with. The problem is that they are sitting in front of the computer and thinking about washing the floors and then they remember that the laundry has to be done so they get up and put in a load to wash. Yesterday's load is dry and they start folding and putting those away. Then they remember the report and go back for few more minutes. Then they look at the time and notice that friends will be over soon and the floors still aren't clean. They rush to get the mop and bucket and stub their toe on the edge of a table. Ouch! Dammit! Now they're in pain and the floors need to be cleaned and the report needs to be done and ... and ... oh no! They forgot to get the elf-shaped cookie cutters! They need to go back to the store! And... but there's no time! And they need to get dressed and ready! Hurry! Clean the floor!

They grab the mop and soapy water and splash it all over to quickly wash the floor. There's too much water on the floor! Press the mop first! They try to corrall the water back into the bucket. The doorbell rings. What!! Are they here already?! They're early! And I didn't finish decorating! And I'm still not dressed yet!...

I could go on but I think you get the picture.

Trying to do everything all at once is a recipe for disaster. When we try to focus on too many things at once we forget much and under-achieve on whatever we DO accomplish.

The only way to truly achieve excellence in something is to give 100% of yourself and your focus to that one thing while you are doing it. That being said, here is the better way to multi-task:

1.Make a list
2.Prioritize
3.Focus 100% on the present task

When you make a list of what you need to do, you won't forget. And you won't have to spend half your day trying to remember all the things you thought about that morning that you wanted to do.

When you prioritize the items on your list you will then accomplish the most pressing, important things first and will not have to rush because you were working on something that can wait and suddenly you are "late" for something else. Do what needs to be done first, first.

When you focus 100% on the present task, you are in the moment and mistakes will be far fewer than when you are doing one thing and thinking about something else you have to do. Be in the moment. Be present. If you are doing the laundry, just do the laundry. Do it well. Finish it. Then bring your attention to the next task. If it's driving, just drive. Get to your destination safely. Then check your list and do the next task. Do that for everything and everything will be done much better.

That's how you get things done. And if your multi-tasking is more compressed, like if you have to jump back and forth between different tasks, have 100% of your attention on whatever it is that you are doing. Reading emails? Just read emails. Then go to the kitchen to check on the roast. Just check on the roast. The go to the laundry. Just do the laundry. Then back to emails. Then on to decorating. Just decorating... be aware of where each finger and toe is. No decorating while thinking about the roast!

I think you get the idea...

You can flip back and forth between tasks... just be 100% present in whatever you are doing RIGHT NOW at all times and everything will be fine.

And remember to breathe as deeply as possible to relax at all times and to drink plenty of water.

Do this and you just might have the most relaxing holiday season of your entire life!

Well, at least so far...

CHB

Copyright © Charles Begin

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