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The Power of Mono Tasking

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Quick Spin:

• The 2 Traps we Fall into
• How to reduce guilt & get back time in your day
• Why multitasking isn't a superpower

♟️ MY TURN:

We’ve been lied to.

I remember saying in my Ernst & Young job interview...

“I’m a great multitasker”.

Turns out, that’s not actually possible.

According to research by Brown University, what our brains are actually doing when we multitask is rapidly switching between tasks.

You aren’t actually doing two tasks at once.

If you are working while watching tv......your brain is actually working OR watching tv (just switching rapidly back and forth).

That sounds exhausting.

And it’s not productive either.

This constant switching taxes our brain.

It tires it out and makes it less efficient.

This particularly affects our ability to focus attention in general, even when we are not multitasking.

AKA....the more we switch between tasks makes it HARDER to focus when we are trying to just do one thing.

When you need to recruit more of your brain to complete a task, it means your brain is working less efficiently.

MONOTASKING →
The fastest path to lowered guilt.

The evidence supporting monotasking is clear.

A study by the American Psychological Association found that it takes, on average, 23 minutes to regain focus after being distracted.

Think of the time lost when multitasking throughout the day. Imagine what could be accomplished if that time were channeled into focused work.

If you stay focused on the thing at hand without checking emails, looking at social or seeing what your friend texted....

You will have more time for your colleagues, friends or for scrolling!

And the thing I’m currently obsessed with…….

Mono-tasking alleviates guilt.

• If I’m momming, I’m momming.
• If I’m working. I’m working.
• If I’m on a date. I’m flirting.

I call this the power of "Focus & Finish".

I decide what is the actual task at hand (like finishing this newsletter).

And I decide what I need to do to protect my focus (like turn on the tv for the kids and set an Alexa timer).

When the timer goes off, I switch to mom mode.

Newsletter finished.
Ready to build legos.

“But Amanda - everyone needs me all the time!!”

I hear you.

Keep reading.

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♟️ YOUR TURN:

If you are struggling with setting boundaries on your time and focus so you can do the task in front of you for the set amount of time that is designated, then let’s examine 2 traps you may be falling into.

(I talk about these traps and strategies to alleviate guilt in your day in my book Toxic Grit - coming October 21st! - preorder now!)

Trap #1: The Urgency Trap

When everything is urgent, nothing is.

Oftentimes when multiple projects are pulling for our attention and energy, we fall for the trap that everything needs us right now or else we are a bad friend, colleague, parent, partner. That’s just people-pleasing in disguise.

How to get out?

The 10-10-10 Rule

When placed in a situation where two things need attention at once, ask yourself:

Can it wait for ten minutes?
Can it wait for ten hours?
Can it wait for ten days?
Can it wait for ten weeks?

I bet that email could wait while you finish that slide deck.

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Trap #2: The Significance Trap

When everything is important, nothing is.

I follow the 80/20 rule: to focus on the 20 percent of the work that gets 80 percent of the results.

If people-pleasing prevents us from setting boundaries with our time when something feels falsely urgent (see trap #1), guilt is the culprit in setting boundaries with our energy when something feels falsely significant.

We feel guilty not doing everything required.

Answering every email or Slack.

Making every meal perfect for our family.

Doing a full sixty-minute workout.

But ask yourself this:

• Do you feel connected with your friends when they reply to every text or after a good phone call or dinner date?
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• Do you feel connected with your kids or parents sitting next to them on your phone scrolling for three hours or sitting across from them talking or playing a game for an hour?
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• Do promotions come from cleaning out your inbox or completing a big project?
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• Do you feel healthy after a ten-minute walk versus staying on the couch because you don’t have the full hour to go to the gym?

Even if that thing is relaxing to watch a show. You watch the shit out of that show! Get that phone away from you.

If you are going to make a deck.....you make that deck! Close out of your tabs and make it full screen.

Let’s go on a mission to take back some brain power.

Do one thing at a time.

Let's focus & finish some things today!!

(PS if you liked this, it was taken from my book Toxic Grit - coming October 21st! Preorder now to get the exclusive pre-launch bonuses!)

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