10 Reasons Single-Tasking Day Will Increase Your Happiness
“The first rule of focus is this: ‘Wherever you are, be there.” ~ Author Unknown
I may have that framed and hang it in my office.
Are you someone who feels like you’re not really accomplishing enough unless you are doing a dozen things at once? Join the club!
The truth . . . multi-tasking decreases productivity, slows progress, and increases stress levels.
It’s National Single-Tasking Day
Theresa Gabriel, the originator of the holiday, wrote – “Do only one thing at a time and don’t feel guilty about it.”
10 Reasons You Should Only Do One Thing at a Time
1. It speeds up your progress – stopping to read a text, email, or watch 5 minutes of television will always slow you down.
2. It improves your performance – distractions always cause mistakes and inaccuracy.
3. It improves the finished product – you will always do your best when you’re completely focused on the task at hand.
4. It helps prevent anxiety – checking an item off your to-do list is much better than leaving it hang there while you jump from project to project.
5. It improves your relationships – being focused on your friends and family and not watching television, texting, or reading a magazine will help the people in your life feel valued and appreciated.
6. It helps your diet – eating while watching television or sitting at the computer can cause you to stick your hand in the chip bag or cookie jar more often that if you stopped and focused on what you’re eating.
7. It prevents having to refresh and redo – jumping from one task to the next will cause you to have to refresh your memory as to where you left off and what needs to be done next.
8. It helps you reach your goals – multitasking prevents you from giving intentional effort to those things that are most important to you. Setting specific goals and giving them focused attention each day will help you reach your destination more quickly.
9. It’s safer – have you ever tried to walk and text at the same time. Enough said.
10. It increases happiness – read #1 through #9 again . . . making those things happen is guaranteed to increase your happiness.
Quotes to Encourage You to Stop Multitasking
“The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time.” ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Often he who does too much does too little.” ~ Italian Proverb
“You can do two things at once, but you can’t focus effectively on two things at once.” ~ Gary Keller
“Make sure every day you do what matters most. When you know what matters most, everything makes sense. When you don’t know what matters most, anything makes sense.” ~ Gary Keller, The ONE Thing
“When you have too many top priorities, you effectively have no top priorities.” ~ Stephen Covey, The 8th Thing
No matter what you do, work at it with all your might. ~ Solomon, Ecclesiastes 9:10a
Photo Credit
Such an important concept to grasp, Deb. Technically, our brains cannot do two things at once; they really flip between the two, which is not that effective for successful thinking. What I’ve noticed is that people seem to think the ability to focus is something you either have or you don’t, and many use not having it as an excuse to continue being confused and ineffective. In my experiences, focus is learned. It’s like exercising where your muscles get stronger the more you use them. Great topic!
Great point Kari! I have some ADD tendencies so my brain is all over the place. Focus is always a challenge. It’s ridiculous how many times I’ve thought I could multi-task when I was really just giving in to my natural tendencies. I guess this is something better learned now than never, but I am definitely a work in progress.
I’ve been “multi-tasking” a lot lately. What I notice is that it makes me feel like I’m going around in circles. Things get done, but I don’t feel they are done well. Thanks for these tips…I’m going to focus on one thing at a time today!
Blessings, Joan
That’s my goal too, Joan. I’m sure I’ll have to set it as a goal everyday until I get better at it. But you’re right, multi-tasking leaves me feeling like I’m letting things slip.