There is always something to do, somewhere to be, the latest trend to try – really a never-ending pile of things to do. From careers to personal lives we all feel overwhelmed time to time, and my way of dealing with the plethora of demands on my time is to multi-task. I multi-task until I have beautiful colour coded lists of multi-tasking heaven but I feel I am wrong.
I recently read an article on LinkedIn that multi-tasking is detrimental to your productivity. Having researched increased productivity for this blog post, I have discovered that everything I have been doing is wrong when it comes to managing my time more efficiently and I hope to share some tips with you.
Burnout
I think everyone has experienced burnout at some point. My last one was in October last year when the last ounce of energy I had fizzled out – luckily I had my honeymoon to recover on but if you don’t slow down then you will not have the longevity to be productive. Burning yourself out makes you less happy and can impact your health. Make time for you and relaxing will make sure you have more energy to boost productivity for a longer timeframe.
Your Brain Doesn’t Like It
Yep, even your brain hates multitasking! There is a switch in the thought process when you switch between tasks, which is fine if you are watching TV and ironing at the same time; but change that to multiple high-stake projects and your brain will become overloaded. It’ll lead to forgetfulness or merging of a project and you may spend time having to undo work you have done wrong. Being able to think rationally is a great skill to have and one you can focus on when you can give a project your full attention.
You Become a Better Listener
You will improve your connections with people when you slow down; being able to truly listen to people allows you to build bridges between ideas and project groups. You can create bigger pictures and learn something new, rather than feeling like you don’t have time for people. Your actual communication will become more efficient and will reduce misunderstanding which is always good in high-power situations.
You will make fewer mistakes
Being constantly stressed and juggling multiple projects can mean you skip on the fine details of things, and that is usually where the undoing of a project will be. Being able to be thorough and catch mistakes before they happen will lead to you feeling in control which is how you should feel.
Let me know if you are successful at slowing down and share your increased productivity tips below.
