Monotasking: a cure for what ails ya
February 7, 2008 by Jennifer Hofmann
As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are, otherwise you will miss most of your life.”
– Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
If you started your business to contribute something you love to the world, how ironic it is that the practical day-to-day work is sometimes so unenjoyable and unsatisfying.
I started thinking about this because I picked up a copy of “In Praise of Slowness” last week. In part, the book argues that our culture is one in which only the fast seem to survive, and the pace of life has accelerated in a way that takes the joy and meaning out of everything.
A perfect example of this evolution is a community-owned and -operated retreat center in the Oregon forests that I’ve been going to for the last 10 years. Even this holistic business, dedicated to spiritual retreat and self-nourishment, has accelerated noticeably over that time.
There, artfully hand-drawn signage has been replaced by laminated computer printouts. A warm, live person on the phone has been replaced with a complicated phone tree. Instead of a valued guest, I’ve begun to feel like an unremarkable part of the crowd. The drive to be quick is killing originality and beauty. Personally, I mourn its loss.
If you want to make your business stand out and you want to enjoy your work more, monotask. Take joy from doing one task at a time with your whole heart.
Sound impossible? Consider the alternative: According to helpguide.org, stress-related complaints include headaches, diarrhea or constipation, nausea, dizziness, insomnia, chest pain, weight gain, loss of sex drive, frequent colds (due to compromised immune system). 60-90% of all illnesses reported to physicians are related to our sped-up culture.
You may not be able to change the whole world today, but you can adjust and choose your own path. I recommend, as often as possible, choosing one task to complete and doing it with love and attention before moving on to another. Nurture yourself and your business by deliberately minimizing interruptions. It may take time to adjust, but if you don’t notice the effect right away, your clients surely will.
I totally agree on monotasking. Multi-tasking means doing lots of things not very well. Here’s my personal mantra when I have a spare fifteen minutes and I’m tempted to squeeze in an extra stop – “Just because I can, doesn’t mean I should.” Repeat that three times, take a deep breath and do nothing at all until the next planned stop. Very refreshing.
This is great, Amy. I love your mantra and I couldn’t agree more (I’ll bet you guessed that already).
Mine is: “Do I need to be doing this right now?”
It’s such a little thing to do, like you said, to just stop and “do nothing” – yet it can be so nurturing and refreshing. I contend that it also makes you more productive and focused in the long run.
If nothing else, I’m a lot less snarky when I take the downtime I need.
In my experience folks who multitask a lot rarely complete anything. It is much more satisfying to complete a task to my satisfaction rather than working on many things and completeing none.
Great post Jennifer! I’m like you – I get very moody if I have too much going on at any one time.
Amy – I love your mantra. That’s fantastic! I’m going to try something similar next time I feel rushed or pressured into thinking I need to squeeze something else in.
I actually think that you’re even more successful if you slow down. And like Cameron said – it’s more fulfilling to do one thing, complete it, and then move on to the next task.
Thing is, when we read how valuable it is to do one thing at a time, there’s deep “yes” to the sensibility of it. But in reality, it’s hard to do.
There’s a time for working fast. And it takes attention and deliberate downshifting to allow yourself to work at a more natural and sustainable pace.
Good thoughts! I also heard this week from a friend that as we age, our multi-tasking abilities decrease. In the 40s and 50s and above it’s much more challenging to multi-task the way we did in our 20s and 30s. That gave me pause as I continued my 6 balls in the air juggle.
Denise