So many of us wear multiple hats. Our daily tasks can be incredibly varied. You might be providing customer service for a client via the phone one minute, then reviewing a contract the next, then figuring out how much food will reasonably fit into your budget just minutes later. These tasks often come in rapid fire, one after the next. Being pulled in a number of different directions can be difficult and leave you feeling drained by the end of the day, and understandably so! 

Multitasking is incredibly draining, but we all do it right? Or at least try to do it? Do you think you do it well? So often employers covet someone who can multitask. I challenge this notion. Take a look at the video below to see if you're really good at multitasking or not. 

Harder than you thought? What you're really doing when you juggle multiple tasks is not multitasking, but task switching. Science actually proves that this is more difficult on your brain than you think. For comparison, it's like being at a conference where everyone is trying to access the WiFi and it seems to be crawling. We've all been there right? The number of things you're asking your brain to do when you task switch slows down the rate in which your brain fires. Your brain's bandwidth decreases the more things you ask it to do, just like your slow WiFi. 

So what can you do?

Strive to Monotask

Monotasking, also known as single-tasking, is the practice of dedicating oneself to a given task and minimizing potential interruptions until the task is completed or a significant period of time has elapsed. Monotasking contrasts with multitasking, which is the ability to divide one's focus among multiple tasks, which as you learned is not productive or easy to do.

Identify the problem

We all need to admit that we need help with this. Don't think you have a problem? Try running RescueTime in the background of your computer or Android phone. (It doesn't work on an iPhone because of the iPhone privacy settings.) You'll receive a daily or weekly summary of where you spend your time. It won't tell you about the switching, but it will tell you what things you're doing that are productive versus distracting. 

Limit distractions

Turn off your email notifications, phone notifications, or silence your work or cell phone. Every time you are distracted from something you're doing it takes 25 minutes to get back to the same level of productivity. That statistic is absolutely insane considering all the times you're interrupted on a daily basis. 

Now are you afraid that if you turn off your notifications that you'll miss an important email? No worries, there are rules in Outlook that you can use. You can set it to only notify you when your boss emails you, or your spouse, whoever is important. The same goes for your phone. You can put it on the do not disturb setting, but allow certain people to call or text. After all, you don't want to miss that important email or call from a kid's school. .

Reset expectations

We often use email to instant message, but this is not really the purpose. Try to limit your email checking to just two to three times per day. I know it sounds scary, but go with me. If you put an out of office up notifying people of your expectations then they know when they should hear back from you. Something like: 

Thank you for contacting me. Please expect a response withing 24-48 hours. I check email between the hours of 9 and 9:30 a.m., 12 and 12:30 p.m., and 4 and 4:30 p.m. If you need an immediate response please call xxx-xxx-xxxx. 

Create a 1-3-5 to-do list

For those of you that have to-do lists running off the page and don't know where to begin tackling these priorities consider the 1-3-5 daily to-do list. 

• 1 big goal
• 3 medium goals
• 5 small goals

This keeps you focused on the things that are a priority for each day. It's easy to continue to tackle the low hanging fruit, but then you constantly do just that. If you have a daily vision it's easy to make sure that you get work done. 

Schedule your day

This is more than just regular meetings on your calendar. Block off time on your calendar as work blocks if necessary. Your daily schedule might look something like this:

In Conclusion

These are just some strategies to help make you more productive in your daily life. Keep working your events! If you have feedback I'd love to hear from you.