Take Control of Your Tasks
Do you find yourself distracted and failing to get things done by the end of the day? New job, new living space, new environment? Or perhaps it’s just the same thing but more tasks and more activities as we find our world returning to the previous activities as we start to emerge from the Pandemic lockdown.
Escape the distractions and rabbit hole (but its so cute and fluffy)
For me there is no more important time to focus on Incremental skills than after a move to a new place when you find yourself overwhelmed with tasks. The best description of my world right now is
Its Like the Internet but IRL
How do you take control and start to assemble some order to your world, your health and work
Back to basics
Not everyone gets the same value form lists but they can be a good place to start and certainly helps organize and capture the various tasks and activities. Start by throwing everything down on a piece of paper – if you are feeling adventurous you could use a digital format, perhaps typing into a word document or even into a task manager but that can be a bridge to far when there is so much going on
Identify the Critical items on the list – what rises to that level depends on your own priorities. Critical is anything that has a hard deadline or not meeting the timing means you miss something – so perhaps submitting an application that has a deadline, getting work product delivered to a client by a deadline or it could be your child’s birthday and that day and time won’t come around again.
Whatever they are pull them from the larger list and place them separately on a new blank sheet of paper at the top. Borrowing from the infamous 5/20 rule that is attributed to Warren Buffet these are your priorities and you should focus on them without distraction
Overcoming Distractions
In our digitally connected world it is easy to get distracted – the internet is a perfect case in point where you can click on one link and then suddenly realize 20 minutes has passed as you continued to click on links and read and dig deeper. In fact my world is like the internet but in real life as I try and bring order back to my life that got turned upside down with a move. Everything used to have a place, now it still does have a place, I just don’t have the faintest idea where that place is. Every task I take on that can be as simple as fetching an stapler can lead me down a rabbit hole as I fine things in boxes and attempt tp impose some order by organizing and placing items in their ‘right’ place in their new home.
Once again borrowing from another area – catching yourself when you do get distracted and noticing (or noting as it is called in meditation) is the first incremental step. Note your brain has been hijacked with another task or activity. Initially you might not overcome the distraction but the more you ‘note’ these distractions the more opportunity you have to play some interference in the future. Your goal here is to interrupt the thought, acknowledge it and then return to your original (priority) task
Switch Off Alerts
Some may have already done this but if you have not, turn off all the alerts. That means no ‘bing’, ‘pop’, ‘bloop’ or ‘swoosh’! These all start out life on by default and if you don’t turn them off you will find your world is constantly interrupted by technology and other draws for your time.
That email or message likely does not need your attention immediately and can wait. There’s a useful resource on the Apple iPhone that allows you to auto reply to any inbound text message when you are driving
There is no alternative that you can use when you are not driving – your choice is to switch on the “Do Not Disturb” but that works pretty well and if you take back control of your own calendar you should not miss any calls that are scheduled. It does mean that if someone is trying to reach you and you don’t answer you will have to call them back – but think of it this way, when you do you will be more prepared and more focused on that call than you would if it interrupted your work and flow
Set Aside Time to Be Distracted
This might sound strange but our minds need relaxation time and decompression – especially if you are living in an intense work environment that requires a lot of focus and attention.
Above all be kind to yourself – there will be days where you reach the end of the day and question what you have achieved. When that happens put it down to experience, look back and ask yourself what could you have done differently to change the outcome.
For the days that go well, celebrate the success and build on the things that worked
We live in a busy attention seeking world – finding focus is hard but worthwhile. To find your focus take small incremental steps towards distraction free experience and focus on the here and now
