Working on more than one thing at a time is the norm at most offices. Especially in this fast paced world we live in.  It turns out, multitasking is one of the top productivity fall-backs that is keeping us busier than ever.

There are many things that keep us from getting things done and getting them done quickly.  Not all of them apply to everyone and not all of them apply just to an office environment.  A few of these tasks that we do on a daily basis are keeping us overwhelmingly busy.

Multi-tasking:
We all think it’s a great thing to be working on more than one thing at a time.  Wrong!  We cannot focus enough on more than one project.  One project will get all of our attention, while doing two things at once, our attention is being split up amongst them and we never truly focus on one.

Email:
Do you ever close your email?  I know I don’t.  We even access it indexeverywhere we go.  It’s an impulse reaction to any lull in our day to “check” our email.  Then we start clicking around and then minutes are gone and we are back trying to catch up.  Try to check your email before you start a project and once it is complete, check it again.  Don’t stop to check and read emails every few minutes.  It is too much of a distraction from what needs to be done.

Doing it all:
Doing it all, gives you a peace of mind that it will get done and get done right.  However, holding on to everything is a disaster waiting to happen.  You will overwhelm yourself in to craziness.  Delegate tasks and review them once they are done.  This can give you the free time you need to get some of the workload that truly only you can complete.

Put it where it goes:
This sounds like something my Mother would say.  But, it is just that simple.  We overload ourselves with paper stacked in piles with the mind set that we will do it later.  If it is something that has to wait until later, organize your space and keep a small neat section of tasks that need to be done.  Take the time to be organized.  This will save you hours in the long run.

To-do list:
Face it; you cannot remember everything.  We all think we can, but we can’t.  Write things down.  Make a list at the end of each day with the items on your to-do list for the next day.  List them in a priority that works best for you.  Either get the longer more difficult projects done in the morning and work on small simple tasks in the afternoon or vice versa.

Just take the time to have a plan for the next day. Start with one of these and see how it goes.  You will be surprised how much more effective your daily workflow can be with just a few simple changes in your working strategies.

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