Switching Tasks

Whenever you go through the seasons of having a ton on your plate. Everyone and every project just seem to be coming at you all at once. Which is funny when it happens. More "when it rains it pours" type of thing. In those scenarios, you find yourself all over the place. In fact, it can be very overwhelming and downright debilitating.??

Going through training at the beginning of March with 3 of 7 Project, showed me the importance of spin-up and wind-down. It also showed me how important it was to stay on task. To have that dedicated time toward a goal. To do what you need to in isolation without interruption.?

Now, in the normal day-to-day, of the office environment, what does this look like? What should this look like? And what does it look like??

Today, you are probably bombarded with teams messages, slack, texts, calls, emails, social media notifications, DM, and people knocking on your door. These are all distractions to what you need to get done. They most likely do not contribute to what you are doing.??

Prioritization becomes key in all of these areas. Typically, this is ignoring things in many areas and focusing on what is in front of you. Those interruptions by others can wait. It is their priority, potentially, but it is not yours.??

This increased awareness and urgency around prioritization and determining who is and who is not a priority is important. It weeds out and helps you make decisions, which then shortens the time frames on which decisions and actions can be made.??

For example, turning off your email and allowing yourself to focus down on what you are doing allows you to not only complete what you are doing, it shows to yourself it is a priority. You make the priorities in your life. When we choose our priorities instead of them choosing us, we are making decisions as to how we move forward.??

A key piece here too is how quickly do you switch from one thing to another. If something is done, then you switch over to the next item on your list. Now, the reason this isn’t done commonly is because it can be awkward. Meaning that you can be having a conversation with someone, then when it’s done or you perceive it to be done, you then switch to the next task.??

Some might think that to be rude, when in fact, you are just moving on. Because that other person hasn’t moved on, is not your problem. This is a confidence thing as well as not caring what other people think. Most of us do care what other people think, even in the slightest, so this can be very uncomfortable. Yet, if anything is to get done you have to be militant with your time and get things done. It’s not to say you give anyone or any project less attention than it needs, but giving it more than necessary is also bad.?

There is a balance or too much and too little. Often I find that we linger too long between tasks. We are lazy to start the next thing and move forward with our lives and with our day. This cuts that out. Move forward with purpose and on mission.??