As you get back to work, you are probably going to be overwhelmed by the amount of work you need to catch up on.
It will be tempting to try and get caught up on everything at the same time.
However, the truth is… You can’t do it all at once.
Rather than letting your multi-tasking run amok, make sure you do the right things first.
Try to Do It All at Once
You can’t do everything at once.
Trying to do so is a recipe for ineffectiveness.
When you find yourself immersed in a dozen tasks at once, it’s time to take a step back and concentrate your efforts on the few important tasks.
“Trying to do everything at once, ensures that you do none of it well.” (Tweet this Quote)
It’s better to focus on the few important tasks that you absolutely need to get done.
Give Your Attention to the Important
Avoid being overwhelmed by trying to do too many tasks at the same time.
Give you full attention to the most important items on your todo list.
Here are 5 Ways to Avoid Trying to Do Everything at Once:
- Make a List – Until you see all of your work listed out, you won’t be able to get an accurate assessment of just how much you are trying to accomplish.
- Pick Your Priorities – Order your tasks by priority. It’s always better to get a few important todos done than a bunch of lesser ones.
- Forget Multi-tasking – When you try to do many things at once, you end up not doing any of them very well. You are also likely to end up with many things started and nothing finished.
- Avoid Other People’s Work – While you are doing your work, do other people stop by and ask you to do theirs, too? Be careful about taking on others’ work that you shouldn’t. Once you do, forever will it come your way. (Note: There are individuals that make a career out of passing off their work.)
- Finish to Done – Be purposeful in completing important tasks to done. Almost done doesn’t cut it. In fact, stopping short of “all the way done” just creates more work for you later. Finish that important item before picking up the next.
Do the Important Things
You can’t do it all at once.
Make sure you do the right things first.
Complete the important tasks and give them your full attention.
And don’t worry, the other tasks will still be there when you return to them.
Question: How do you avoid doing everything at once? Are you guilty of multi-tasking too much? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Ha! I was JUST telling a buddy of mine that I may have too many things on my plate. Time to prioritize and focus…
Avoiding distractions is one way to avoid doing too many things at once.
Block time (40 – 50 minutes) during which you work only on ONE task. Avoiding distractions (email, calls, walk-ins) is essential.
Plan in advance. Be active, not reactive and stick to the plan.
Take care of your stuff first thing in the morning, before you open your email and start dealing with other people’s agendas.
Multi-tasking seems like a good thing but you’re right you can’t effectively do two things at once. It’s so overrated and reduces productivity.
~Lea
I’ve always thought about multitasking as it relates to work, but I’m always trying to break up my housework by doing 10 minutes of each “job” at a time, and then working my way back around. A little bit of everything gets done, but it doesn’t look like any real progress has been made. I need to do and finish one thing at a time.
Great advice
Probably one of the best, most useful blog posts I’ve ever read. I’m so glad I came across your blog, through Google. Using Replicon’s time recording software, I do create daily, weekly and monthly to-do lists to keep track of my time.
It also gives me a great sense of satisfaction as I can check off each item in my priority list. That way I can sleep better and enjoy my weekends and find more free time without having work issues hanging over my head.
5 great tips. #4 is especially useful. You often don’t even realize how much time your helpful attitude can chew up. Not that you should be unhelpful, but you must beware of taking on other people’s duties. When I started at my current place 9 years ago the secretary has managed to pass one of her duties to me. I’ve been stuck with it ever since and it takes up 2,5-3 working days each year.
Thanks for the post!