Talane’s Blog of the Week, March 26, 2007

A Classic Tip from Talane . . .
Do One Thing At A Time
Excerpted from bestselling book Coach Yourself to Success by Talane Miedaner

Rushing around doing ten things at once is not efficient. Give yourself permission to do one thing at a time. In reality, that's all you can do so accept it and focus on doing one thing consciously and well. I hear you protesting that you have to do multiple tasks at once. Look at a typical busy day. You're working on a report and the phone rings. You're talking on the phone and looking at the report when someone comes up to interrupt you. Now you are doing three things at once. No wonder you feel exhausted at the end of the day.

Now imagine the same situation in slow motion. You are working on the report, the phone rings, you STOP working and pick up the phone, you START a conversation. Now someone comes in with a question. Either you STOP the phone conversation and START a new conversation, or you STOP the interruption, complete the phone call and START the new conversation. You STOP that, then START the report again. Your life is a series of starts, changes, and stops. Do one thing at a time consciously and deliberately instead of pretending that you are doing three things at once. It is wonderfully liberating.

When I consciously did one thing at a time at the office, I felt in control instead of harried and put upon. It is obviously stressful to try to do more than one thing at a time, and there is nothing attractive about stressed-out people. You will miss great opportunities if you are too busy to see them. This week make a point of only doing one thing at a time.