Myth of Multi-Tasking

Multi-Tasking....complete myth

People who "multi-task" all day long are normally the ones who get the least done. They look busy(frantic), they definitely feel busy...in reality, they're getting nothing of any real value done.

If you are constantly doing several projects or tasks all at once, you're not executing any of them well. Our work, whatever it is, deserves our very best effort. Some may argue that point, especially if they feel their work is beneath them or they don't align with the overall philosophy or direction of their employers.

If we master the work we have now, we'll demonstrate to our bosses or owners or shareholders that we should be working on solving bigger problems. Being able to solve bigger problems is what launches us ahead in our careers and business endeavors and allows us to earn higher compensation.

Focus is power...it's like a laser beam in that when you focus all of your effort, all of your heart, all of your attention on one challenge or one roadblock, you'll explode through it.

Our day should consist of various high-level tasks that get us closer to our overall objective, when executed consistently with passion and enthusiasm. For example, a salesman's day should look something like this...consisting of various high-level tasks that drive the overall objective:
1. Four or five face to face sales calls with customers and prospects.
2. Ten to twenty prospecting calls to uncover opportunities for new business.
3. Five to ten follow up calls with current customers, serving them as well as possible.
4. Solution development, during which he designs solutions to each individual prospect's needs and desires.

These are the main activities a salesman should be focused on, generally speaking. If he executes these fundamentals every single day with passion, he'll produce the results the owner of the company is looking for--sales(revenue). This consistent action fills his pipeline with qualified prospects, which is key to his success.

Now, would this salesman get those results if, while he was executing his prospecting calls, he constantly responded to emails on his IPHONE? I'd guess no. He couldn't prospect as effectively if he were distracted by incoming emails. This would take his focus away from the important task of finding opportunities to land new business.

We must apply all of our focus to the high-level activities we all have in whatever our jobs may be. For a doctor, it's seeing patients, or conducting surgeries. How effective would your doc be if she answered emails or phone calls while she's in with you, checking you for a back problem? Not very.

So, what's the remedy? Completely undisturbed blocks of time during your workday in which nothing will distract you from executing these tasks to the best of your abilities. Plain and simple. If you're scheduled to make follow up calls and your boss calls and wants to talk...sorry. you'll have to get back to him. If a prospect wants to see you at 3:00 this afternoon, and you've already blocked that time out for prospecting calls...you'll have to see her Thursday at 10:00 or Friday at 12:00, times during which you're scheduled to see customers face to face. It's this kind of self-respect and discipline that will separate you from the rest.

The production we get from two hours of focused, undisturbed time making prospecting calls is worth more than six hours of prospecting if you're constantly interrupted by incoming calls, emails, facebook sessions, reading the newspaper online, etc. Works this way with every Simple Discipline we find in any career or business. We need to operate in these blocks of focused time. This is the key to efficiency and it's the quickest way to experience explosive growth in your overall performance and production....

This same approach must be used at home. Tomorrow is Sunday. Let's give our families a huge block of undisturbed, focused time.

Flip the switch