“The sculptor produces the beautiful statue by chipping away such parts of the marble block as are not needed–it is a process of elimination.”

~Elbert Hubbard

Once you’ve created your list, it’s time to organize your list into two groups: Work related activities and non-work related activities. Work related activities are any activities that are directly related to helping you accomplish your main work tasks.

Related posts:

1. Exercise 1.3: Improving the teleworking compatibility of work related activities
2. Exercise 1.5: Eliminating all unnecessary people
3. Exercise 1.4: Eliminating all unnecessary tasks

This morning while I was about to get to work, I had a sudden reflection of how I used to approach work couple of years ago.

I had no systems, no procedures, no nothing to organize my work in order to decide what was important and what was not.

I used to be a multi-tasker and at the time I was proud of it.

Unfortunately I soon realized that multi-tasking was doing doing 2 things to me:

1. It was giving me an excuse not to finish anything
2. I constantly felt distracted and couldn’t focus

I felt like I was killing myself slowly with stress that  was building up due to unfinished tasks.

The funny thing was, I thought that feeling stressed was what being productive was suppose to feel like.

The worst part wasn’t so much that I myself wasn’t getting things done, it was that my attempt to balance all my to-do items in my head was beginning to take a toll on my relationships.

I would skip out on catching up with friends because I was busy, forget to call my parents and was constantly late because I was trying to “maximize” my efficiency by filling every time gap I had with a task.

Pretty soon, the people around me began to feel like I was unreliable and would start to trust me less with taking care of responsibilities.

This really stank because if there is one thing I hate, it is being considered someone who is unreliable and irresponsible.

As soon as I began to realize how my distraction with to-do items was not only affecting me but the people around me I decided I needed to make a serious change.

Stop Multi-Tasking and Start Mono-Tasking

The simplest change I did was to STOP multi-tasking. I realized that trying to cope with 10 different things at once was as fruitless as trying to climb a tree with just my legs.

Instead, I opted to take one task at a time and not move onto the next task until I had completed the previous one.

Not All Tasks Are Created Equal – Prioritize!

Another thing I did was to start prioritizing my tasks. I decided which tasks were urgent, which were less urgent, which I could complete in 2 minutes and which tasks would take me longer.

Simply knowing which were the most important things I needed to do in order to feel satisfied with my day prevented me from placing equal importance on tasks ranging from servicing my car to organizing the stationary on my desk.

Take Action

For the next week, think about 5 things you are currently multi-tasking and organize them into a level of priority.

Next, perform the most urgent item first and do not stop until it is complete before moving onto the next item.

Take note of how you feel after completing each task.

You should feel less stressed and more relaxed with each item you successfully complete.

Related posts:

1. OEB 6 | The Benefits of Part-Time Work
2. How to solve complex problems and avoid feeling overwhelmed
3. Exercise 1.5: Eliminating all unnecessary people