Stop Trying to Multi-Task and Focus!

In today’s world, I constantly find myself trying to do too many things at once!  Even right now, while writing this blog post, I am listening to a podcast, making lunch, and folding laundry.  But really when we are multitasking and focusing on multiple things at once, we are never really giving all of our attention to any one thing, and we are not giving it our best effort.  If you want to put in your best effort you have to focus on one thing at a time!

Here are some tips to help you focus your attention on one thing at a time.

Keep Paper Handy

When I am working on one thing at a time, I keep a pad of paper handy.  This way, when a thought comes into my head I won’t go off on a tangent.  I simply write down the idea or thought so that I’ll be able to remember to come back to it later.  Sometimes when I am working on one blog post, I come up with an idea for another.  And when this happens, my gut is to stop what I’m doing and start working on that new post.  I can’t help it, I just get excited when I develop new ideas!  Or, if I am working on a TpT product and I come up with an idea for another, I want to stop what I’m doing and work on that!

It would be so easy to have so many projects started but this does not lead to finishing any of them.

Put on Soft Music

I find that when I put on a soft music playlist, it helps me block out other distractions, clear my mind, and focus on the task at hand.  If you subscribe to any streaming music services, (Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, etc.) they will all have playlists that offer calm music.  I prefer something that is just a piano or acoustic guitar.  Anything with lyrics typically distracts me.

Schedule Your Time

If you are working on something specific, schedule your time.  This is a tip I learned from Natalie Bacon in her Personal Development for Her class.  She suggests that you schedule the work that you want to do into your planner.  This way if you have a schedule that from 3-4pm on Tuesday, that you are going to create one blog post, or grade one class worth of papers, your mind has predetermined that is what you are going to do.

Personally, I schedule everything into my paper planner, Natalie Bacon suggests that you use Google, but I just prefer writing things down.  I have an Erin Condren planner where I keep my entire life schedules.  I am obsessed, to check out Erin’s life planner, click here.

Also, Check-Out:

How I Blog with a Full-Time Job

What to Do When You’re About to Lose Your Cool