I am joining with Juliann and friends to share an update on my word!
Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. – Alexander Graham Bell
The journey to a more focused life took a dramatic turn this month and I believe I have last month’s lack of focus to thank for this revelation!
I learned that sometime s in order to focus, I need to put blinders on and focus entirely on the thing at hand in order to be successful. It’s not that the other things are not there, but “focused multi-tasking” is truly an oxymoron! Yep, I stopped myself from multi-tasking this month and it made a huge difference in my days!
I accomplished more by being focused. I gained more by being focused. I heard more by being focused.
And, it felt so good!
As I head into the last quarter of the year, I feel like I finally get it, and this is showing in so many things! My daily list is more focused, and I have a new list, an “in waiting list” which is the list where I put things that I want to get done, but not just yet – not today and maybe not tomorrow, and that’s okay! I don’t have to keep thinking about them because they are written down – waiting their turn!
I am so happy for a very focused August and I am excited to continue what I learned in September!
I have a feeling that the idea of “focused multitasking” (truly an oxymoron!) was created by someone who had too many things to get done without the luxury of time to focus on any one of them. I’ve often said at work that I can be more productive if I can focus on one thing at a time; jumping from project to project actually makes me *less* productive overall. I’m glad that you’ve been able to shift things to enable you to give your attention to one thing at a time and find that it works out well.
So glad you found the solution to last month’s lack of focus. I laughed when I read your line about putting blinders on – I do that a lot at work…but it’s to keep out the gossip and back-biting that goes on in a corporate office – lol. And, you know what? IT WORKS!!!
Kudos for your focus and learning! I nagged my kids all through high school that they needed to pay attention to what they were doing when they were studying, because too often they also had four or five tabs open on their computers while listening to their ipods and texting on their phones. Now I’ve begun to take my own advice and focus!
I think there are plenty of studies that show that multitasking actually doesn’t help us to get more done, good for you for finding that’s true for your own tasks and goals. I love the idea of an in-waiting list, too!
Love your aha moment! I go in waves with my ability to focus. If I’m highly stressed (mentally) my focus suffers. Same if I have a full house of family or visitors. However, this summer I had a blissful 10 weeks off of babysitting and that helped immensely.
Yes . . . that’s a lesson I learned with my year of FOCUS! “Focused multi-tasking.” HAH!
XO
three cheers for abandoning MULTI-tasking! I’m still loving listening to a book and knitting. or walking with a podcast. but when I really want to FOCUS on something, I do just that thing. and I love how that ONE thing makes me feel!!