I accidentally stumbled upon an Elizabeth Wilson’s book “Stress-proof your life: 52 Brilliant Ideas for Taking Control”. There was one productivity technique that did not make any sense! I read it and thought, “Are you kidding me?! It contradicts any time-management or efficiency theory!” Not to mention that it sounds ridiculous to anyone, who believes that distractions and interruptions are the “ultimate evil” of our times and that you can only be productive if you work in uninterrupted blocks of time.

Fortunately, before making a final decision that this technique was the silliest thing I had ever heard, I decided to try it.

I am glad I did, because to my great surprise I finished most of the tasks on my to-do list in record time. And guess what? Thoughts like making a cup of tea, checking my emails once again, watching a video on youtube.com or chatting with my friends on Facebook, had not even crossed my mind!
If you are struggling with procrastination and regular productivity techniques do not work for you, this might be the perfect solution to your problem.

Here is how it works:

1. Make a list of the tasks you want to accomplish. This step is pretty obvious and most of us already do it every day. Yesterday I had 6 tasks on my to-do list that I could “play” with, but it was probably too much. I would recommend you start with 3-4 tasks. If there is a task that seems boring or that you do not feel like doing – definitely put it on the list (I will explain why this is important later)!

2. Download a stopwatch. If you do not have a stopwatch set one up on your computer, you can download one. Or if it seems like a lot of work, you can try the on-line version I was using.
Here is the link: http://www.timeme.com/timer-stopwatch.htm. It is very intuitive and incredibly easy to use!

3. Set your timer for 5 minutes and start working on the first item on your to-do list.

(more…)

Julius Caesar was the first person praised for his ability to do several tasks simultaneously. He could write, read and give orders at the same time, which made his contemporaries look at him in awe. Nowadays any office worker, high school student or stay-at-home mom could probably teach Caesar a trick or too about doing multiple tasks at the same time. Multitasking is not considered a rare gift anymore, rather a necessity.

We eat our breakfast, while reading a morning paper. Answer our cell phone while driving. And easily flick between checking our email, following links on Twitter and chatting on Facebook.

Many people consider multitasking the ultimate evil. I disagree. In some situations multitasking can be an efficient way of getting minor tasks out of the way ASAP (given that you do not have to do an outstanding job on any of them). I do not see anything wrong with chatting to my friend while doing grocery shopping, or cooking while listening to my favorite CD and dancing along. Multitasking can make some routine tasks more fun. It also lets us use our downtime productively (like waiting for a doctor’s appointment and planning our next week’s schedule). The true problem is not the concept of multitasking per se, but the way we use it and overuse it!

Downside of Multitasking.

In the movies we often see successful business man and business woman, scanning sales reports while talking on the phone and giving out short orders to the secretary. These people exude power, self-control and organization. Their actions are mesmerizing. They look much cooler than anyone who is able to concentrate on just one task at a time. And it is not only my personal impression. Multitaskers have convinced themselves and everyone else that they are great and highly efficient at what they do.

In fact there was a whole study conducted at Stanford University by the research team of Eyal Ophir, Anthony Wagner and Professor Nass dedicated to identifying the rare cognitive qualities mutitaskers possessed that made them so great at doing several tasks simultaneously.  The study tested 100 college students rated high or low at multitasking. Results of multiple trials were shocking even to the scientists themselves.

It turned out that people who manage to juggle two-three tasks at once pay a big mental price for their “gift”: 1) Their focus suffers; 2) They are easily distracted  and 3) they are weaker at shifting from one task to another, which meant that they are worse at multitasking than any person who is dreadful at multitasking!

(more…)