Five years ago, after
becoming frustrated with my fruitless tendency to juggle multiple activities at
once, I tried an experiment: for one week, I would not multitask and see what
happened.
The experiment changed
everything for the better. My relationships improved, my stress dissolved, and
my productivity soared. There is zero downside to focusing on one thing at a
time without distraction.
One of the side benefits
of my focusing on one undistracted task at a time was a new and almost
unbearable impatience for wasted time. In the past, if I was on a call that
wasn’t going anywhere, I would do email or surf the web. In my
post-multitasking world, staying focused on a dragging call was painful.
Which is how I stumbled on the single most life-changing,
business-transforming revelation of my last five years:
Compressed time.
(Full text at link below)
You will
need these “get to the most critical point fast” skills — and the courage to
use them — if you are going to make the most of your time. You need to be bold,
and even provocative. You need to be willing to interrupt, thoughtfully and for
the greater good of moving ambitiously towards what is most important. You need
to let go of things that don’t really matter.
And you need to be fully present. No multi-tasking. No texting
under the table. No distractions. Which is also the upside: you get to be fully
present in what you are doing.
There is a cost. While it’s
energizing, it also takes a lot of energy to be so focused, even for a short
amount of time. It’s a sprinter’s tactic.
On the other hand, when you
cut your meetings and other activities in half, you’ll have a lot more time to
relax at dinner with friends, write, sleep, and spend unstructured time with
people you love.
Full
text at: The
Magic Of 30-Minute Meetings - Forbes#39a5b7a12394#39a5b7a12394#39a5b7a12394
