Three Daily Enemies: Multi-Tasking, Overthinking & Procrastination
Three Daily Enemies: Multi-Tasking, Overthinking & Procrastination
Your success depends on how well you manage three things... time, energy and focus
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I had recently done a podcast on this topic but it merited some more attention.
I want you think about your life as an observation of the following:
How do you use all of your time while you’re here on Earth?
What do want to give your energy to that’s worth giving your energy to?
If you’re only allowed to focus on the things that matter, what are they for you?
This is how you draw perspective on your days.
This is how you draw perspective on your life.
When you really think about it… we’re here on “borrowed time” and none of us really know how much we have.
We act like we know… our daily behavior seems to demonstrate that we think we have an unlimited amount of it.
But we don’t.
Time is finite… even if we’ve figured out how to master it to work in our favor.
So, why then, do we procrastinate, multi-task and overthink?
Or another way to put it…
Why do we wait till the last minute?
Why do we spread ourselves too thin?
Why are we unclear and overanalyze?
In short, why are we not carefully managing our own livelihood, purpose, direction, growth and soul as the single greatest investment with the highest probable return.
Is the “stock” of you facing “diminishing returns” or “compounding interest?”
Diminishing Returns - In this scenario, you are using more energy to:
play catch up
do things at the last minute
become overwhelmed by too many tasks
overcommit
spread yourself thin
redo the details
make 10 extra decisions for 1 simple solution
and more
Compounding Interest - In this scenario, you are using energy to:
get out in front
set things up before they are needed
become clear on the tasks that are of priority
say “no” more
focus on one thing at a time
do the details with precision the first time
make 1 decision that affects 1,000
and more
If the single greatest “company” in your life is your soul and its purpose… can you invest accordingly?
And if you find yourself currently in the “law of diminishing returns,” can you employ humility, self-observation and self-reflection to pause, take a step back and regroup.
Here are 3 concepts to consider:
Multi-tasking is saying everything is important… you’ll do it all and miss half the experience.
When everything is important, decisions take 5 times as longer.
“Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
Let’s expand here👇🏼
Multi-Tasking is Saying Everything is Important… You’ll Do It All & Miss Half the Experiences
You doing 15 things and getting 5% done on each is not the same as doing 1 thing and getting it 100% completed.
In 5 hours you can either have 25% completion on 15 things or 100% completion on 5 things.
Now keep compounding daily.
You’re multi-tasking is not helping the way you think it is.
More often than not, it has been scientifically proven that you’ll miss more of the details and be less present to what is actually going on.
In every moment, you have to ask yourself, “what needs my undivided attention?”
In relation to our purpose, business or creativity… one of the fastest ways I have found to prioritize the right tasks with the right focus is the following:
Schedule 3 deep work sprints at 2 hours per sprint.
Each deep work sprint has a dedicated goal… building your personal brand, your business, your clients, your creativity.
Each dedicated goal has priorities… creating more content, servicing more clients, building more authority or mastery, making more sales, etc.
Each set of priorities has complimentary strategies and tactics to get them done.
Now schedule them into a calendar and under their respective sprints.
Start with scheduling them daily… then schedule them a week out in advance.
This is nothing new as I’ve spoken about this in my clarity workshop, but the bigger point is that you’re taking time to think, comprehend, prioritize and decide before you even begin.
You are now “future-pacing” instead of catching up.
The same can be done in relation to our personal lives… one of the fastest ways I have found to prioritize the right tasks with the right focus is the following:
Schedule time for singular focus items that help us thrive… health, finances, cooking, activities, hobbies, etc.
Look at current goals within each area.
Write our current priorities for each goal.
During the scheduled time, work on implementing systems that govern each area… bookkeeping & software for money, whoop band or other tech for health and wellness, etc.
Doing all of these things individually forces us to create.
Doing all of these things as a function of multi-tasking and overwhelm forces us to exist.
The former is a life. The latter removes it.
👇🏼
When Everything is Important, Decisions Take 5 Times Longer.
Question… if everything has to get done and everything is immediately important, which do you choose first?
If everything is important, how do you make clear decisions quickly and efficiently?
When we do everything, we’re not focused.
When we act singularly, we employ clarity.
When we remove a majority of the “unimportant” things in our life and we’re left with the top 10%, what we are really saying is, we have more time to think about less things.
Read that again.
And when we have more time to think about less things, we create stronger clarity to make decisions faster in any given situation… hence removing analysis paralysis and gaining more available time to live.
👇🏼
“Skate to Where the Puck is Going to Be, Not Where it Has Been”
This is a famous quote that is often in relation to one of the greatest hockey players of all time, Wayne Gretzky.
In short, don’t play from where you’re at… trying to catch up, waiting till the last minute, not sure what to do while trying to do everything… but instead, play for where you’re heading.
The reason I stopped procrastinating is because I started putting the important things first, analyzed what activities need to be done to prioritize them and then make time to do them before it’s last minute.
Let me give you an example:
On Saturdays I record 2-3 episodes for my podcast and then schedule them into my publisher (Captivate.fm).
On Sunday I create my newsletter to go out that Monday.
On Monday I input all of my content for the week into Hypefury but sometimes input up to 2 weeks.
What that leaves me with is the entire week to work on the future weeks of production, creativity and future business related items or revenue generating tasks.
The results… I’m operating at about 2 weeks into the future.
Why do I do this?
Because I employ systems that grow my distribution, audience and business… which in turn are a part of my future governing structure while having more time for personal, creativity and expansion.
I cannot reiterate this enough… get clear on the things that matter to you the most without having to know all the details and then spend time getting to know you and the details.
Simplify, Multiply, Diversify below…👇🏼
SIMPLIFY…
If you don’t know where to begin with simplifying your life, start by optimizing for your time, energy and focus… everything else will follow.
MULTIPLY…
Multi-tasking divides your time, energy and focus. It draws away from your capabilities and output.
Singularly focusing on one thing at a time multiplies your time, energy and clarity. It expands your capabilities and output.
Translation:
Create more time to focus on less.
DIVERSIFY…
Multiple areas of our life demand 100% of our focus, not 100 things to be doing at one time.
We don’t achieve “more” from doing more. We achieve more from our ability to discern what’s worth our focus while employing our discernment to remove everything else.
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