Today's technique is directly connected to last week's tip, in which we showed you how to create a “To Do Dashboard”. Only 2.5% of people can multitask without performing worse at either task*, so this week we'll help you further focus your energies on the most important things. A "To Do Dashboard" helps you make sure that what matters most to you is completed in the shortest possible time, while at the same time increasing your productivity so you can fit more of what matters into your day!
To increase your personal productivity, focus on one thing at a time
Select which action you’re going to do
With the activities you need to get done arranged in sequence (see last week’s tip on creating your "To Do Dashboard" if you're not sure how to do this), you can now start work on the most important item. First decide which this is, then physically move it away from the others to a prominent position on your "To Do Dashboard" - the place where your eye naturally falls.Do it!
Keep focused on that task until it’s complete. Of course, it's sometimes necessary to have more than one thing going at once so, if you do need to make progress on multiple items, keep it to as few in number as possible.
Check the action off once you've finished
When you complete that activity, tick it off using a bright green marker pen and celebrate your achievement! You can now repeat the process, choosing the next most important item on the list.Give it a Try
Many of our clients have embraced this way of working because they find it keeps them focused, something that can be difficult to achieve with a busy, diverse schedule. Often, with external interruptions and several goals to aim for at the same time, it can seem impossible to concentrate on one thing at one time; by using a "To Do Dashboard", you gift yourself the breathing room to regain and maintain that focus. Ready to give it a go? We’d love to hear your experiences with focusing on one thing at a time to increase your productivity, and we’re happy to help if you have queries - give us a call, drop us a line or leave a comment below!Why Does it Work?
To find out how and why focusing on one thing at a time works, check out our Friday Follow-Up! Or, next time, we could send it directly to your inbox:
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About the Author:
Laura M. Waite and Collin Lyons are the duo of business productivity coaches behind Flowmotion. For people in the office world who want to feel the buzz, Flowmotion is an enterprise that will awaken your passion for work. To address the all-too-typical experience of unenergetic working lives, our mission is to redesign how people interact with their environment to generate engaging, productive and collaborative atmospheres and organisations. We share several decades of experience providing organisational transformation and executive coaching and have worked with small, medium, large and global organisations including: British Telecom, British Petroleum, Standard Life Assurance and Investments, British Gas/Centrica, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Allied Irish Bank and the UK Government.