\u201cLately I\u2019ve been reading a lot of negative stuff about multitasking. What\u2019s up with that? I thought it was considered productive to be able to do more than one thing simultaneously?\u201d \u00a0 Multitasking was considered the \u201cbig idea\u201d of the \u201880s and the \u201890s. But it isn\u2019t considered a great idea anymore, especially after some research conducted by Stanford University which proved that individuals who multitask on a regular basis tend to develop shorter attention spans. But how do you get past the dilemma of multitasking? As an entrepreneur, working from home, you are a jack-of-all-trades. You are managing everything from hiring to marketing to accounting to promotion and customer service. So how do you prevent yourself from multitasking? \u00a0 Set office hours. It doesn\u2019t have to resemble normal business hours. It can start at 2am and end at noon. It can be in 2 hour blocks with 1 hour breaks to attend to the kids. It can change on a daily basis. But having a schedule with your set office hours will let your family know when you\u2019re working and when you\u2019re available for them. This will also ensure that you schedule in your family every day, too. It\u2019s hard to believe, but if you don\u2019t, you may forget. \u00a0 The answer lies in dedicating chunks of time to s single activity. So instead of emailing, checking facebook, writing an article, conducting net research and talking to someone on the phone along all at the same time within the hour, you might want to set aside 10-20 minutes for each task within that same hour. Not only do you get a lot more done this way,\u00a0 you end up giving each task your full attention instead of half-hearted attention. \u00a0 Here\u2019s how you can structure an hour with the above tasks:<\/p>\n
1. Break each task into small, manageable chunks\u00a0 So if you are writing an article, and your tasks comprise research, writing, formatting, editing, proofreading and uploading; consider breaking down each task into chunks and giving it individual and dedicated attention. This means you don\u2019t edit as you write and you don\u2019t research while you write. Set aside say, 10 minutes for research, half an hour for writing, and another 10 minutes for editing and proofing. This way each task gets the attention it deserves.<\/p>\n
2. Eliminate distractions and noise\u00a0 You should not attempt to work while having multiple applications open, with the TV blaring, the radio on, etc. While its true some people get some work done in this manner, for most of us distractions distract. So shut them out, limit them to specific time slots, and get cranking at the job at hand.<\/p>\n
3. Set limits. Setting limits means that you need to consciously stop multiple activities and set determinate amounts of time to don once specific task. So set a timer, a stop watch, an alarm widget on your desktop-whatever it takes to get back into control for completing that one task for the allotted time.<\/p>\n
4. Get help. If it\u2019s just too difficult to go it alone and you find it difficult to concentrate, find a partner willing to help you in the same way people have gym buddies\u2014to egg them on at a particular task and keep distractions and negativity at bay. Find your gym buddy!<\/p>\n
5. Plan, the best plans are those that are made prior to starting work. So take some time and plan out your tasks for the day or the hour. Allot them each an adequate time for completion.<\/p>\n
6. Reward yourself. A reward is a good form of motivation to pace your self intelligently. You can set aside an hour for say, marketing, and then reward yourself with 15 minutes of a phone chat with a friend. Work out a reward that incentivizes you to do better. \u00a0 SETTING PRIORITIES \u00a0 \u201cI make huge to-do lists but seldom get to cross off each item at the end of the day.\u201d \u00a0 Work smarter not harder! That should be the mantra of every professional really, but it becomes especially important when you are a running a one-person business and need to figure out how to get everything done on time. Before panicking, read this list on setting priorities. Prioritizing helps you accomplish the most important things first, often with the realization that the rest of the stuff on your list wasn\u2019t really that important anyway. \u00a0 Here\u2019s the list:<\/p>\n
1. Make prioritized to-do lists: urgent versus important. Figure out what needs urgent and immediate attention and then do that right away! Whatever is crucial to your business success, such as addressing a problem with your website not loading, or people not being able to buy your book online because of a technical glitch could be problems that will affect your bottom line. So give them immediate attention. Issues such as changing your website\u2019s header are obviously not urgent even if a million people tell you it\u2019s ugly.<\/p>\n
2. Manage your social network addiction. And its not just social networks really. The entire internet is a huge distraction. For some people email is the number one distraction. So how do you limit these distractions especially after you\u2019ve heard how important all these tools are to your creative genius and to marketing and networking. Well, the trick is to limit it, not eliminate it. Set aside chunks of time to go online, check mail, surf, read up on stuff that catches your eye and engage in social media. Just don\u2019t schedule it in when there\u2019s work pending. And if you do, make sure to limit it to a time chunk. When that time chunk is over, get back to work!<\/p>\n
3. Identify your goals. How can you choose to prioritize to do the important stuff if you\u2019re not clear what the important stuff is? Well, the\u00a0 important stuff is your goal. The things you want to achieve. The things that you dream of achieving. You want to get to them and you want to get them done. Always keep your main goal in mind, be it setting up a website, or earning a certain figure of income or going away on vacation somewhere. Whatever your goal is, write it down and put it up somewhere easily visible.<\/p>\n
4. If you\u2019re like most people, chances are you probably have several goals. Make a master list of your life\u2019s goals. Identify and list these goals in order of importance. For example, in the previous example we talked about vacation, website building and earning income as goals. Identify which of these should come first. Obviously you can\u2019t go on vacation until you\u2019ve reached your earnings figure and you probably can\u2019t reach that until you\u2019ve built your website and are generating income from it. So list your life\u2019s goals in the order that they need to be fulfilled.<\/p>\n
5. Be flexible. Your plans aren\u2019t set in stone; you should have the flexibility needed to change your priorities according to changing dynamics of your work and life environment. Supposing someone from your family gets sick; obviously caring for a sick child will take precedence over embarking on a new money-making project. So be sure to keep in mind that your priorities are going to change with time.<\/p>\n
6. Create a schedule that works for you. Many freelancers operate under the assumption that working from home means the ability to be able to work anywhere, anytime. But the reality is that most of us are constrained by other aspects of our lives and still need to find a happy medium of where works ends and rest\/play begins. Otherwise you\u2019ll always be stuck in the \u201cwork zone\u201d and it will seem like you\u2019re constantly working. So make a schedule and set aside dedicated time to work, even when you\u2019re doing the work you love and it seems more like play to you than actual work!<\/p>\n
7. Make contingency plans. You won\u2019t always be able to mage your priorities because there might be some last minute thing which will come up and make you shift gears. So try and have Plan B to rely on when that happens. You could for example, keep a buffer for deadlines so if you can\u2019t manage to do the work by a specific date, you still have a day or so to catch up thanks to your contingency plan.<\/p>\n
8. Keep your to-do list short. Resist the temptation to continually add to your list of items. A longer list does not mean that you are getting more done. Rather a longer list adds to your existing stress levels and makes you feel that there is still a lot to be accomplished. The reality is that you usually have 3-5 main tasks to do that day and the rest can safely be delegated to another day or another week, etc. So just keep those items on your todo list that are relevant for that particular day. That way your list will stay short and you\u2019ll be able to cross those items off at the end of day, feeling satisfied that you accomplished your goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLately I\u2019ve been reading a lot of negative stuff about multitasking. What\u2019s up with that? I thought it was considered productive to be able to do more than one thing simultaneously?\u201d \u00a0 Multitasking was considered the \u201cbig idea\u201d of the \u201880s and the \u201890s. But it isn\u2019t considered a great idea anymore, especially after some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1825,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3,4,5],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-empower-network","tag-goal-setting","tag-multitasking","tag-time-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1825"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/barrysnetworking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}