{"id":251,"date":"2010-12-08T17:49:17","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T23:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/?p=251"},"modified":"2010-12-08T20:23:35","modified_gmt":"2010-12-09T02:23:35","slug":"stop-inadvertent-multitasking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/2010\/12\/stop-inadvertent-multitasking\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop Inadvertent Multitasking"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve all done it.\u00a0 We may not even really been aware that we’re doing it.\u00a0 Or we might be aware, yet keep doing it, unsure of how to stop.<\/p>\n

Are you wondering what I’m referring to?<\/p>\n

We have a box, drawer, or some container filled with random stuff and we decide it’s time to deal with it.\u00a0 We reach in and pull something out – sometimes we even shuffle the stuff around first, reaching for something “easy.” We look at it.<\/p>\n

At this point, one of two things often happen after we look at that chosen item –
\n1. We put that very thing we pulled out \u2013 back into the container or next to us with no clear intention for it or
\n2. We hold that item in one hand while we use the other hand to shuffle items in that container, looking for something else to deal with<\/p>\n

This can lead to putting the item down just to get it out of our hands, yet not where it needs to go and easy to forget where it ended up.<\/p>\n

This is a hard habit to break; it\u2019s frequently unconscious so we’re not even aware when we’re doing it.\u00a0 Which just takes me back to the idea of trying to “be in the moment” while you’re working.\u00a0 We can all work to catch ourselves when we\u2019re doing it and stop.\u00a0 Then we make efforts to avoid continuing those behaviors.<\/p>\n

Shuffling items just makes more work for you.\u00a0 You will have to try to deal with the items over and over again.\u00a0 It will make it feel that much more tedious, and it is already probably a tedious task!\u00a0 Then the idea of multi-tasking \u2013 it takes time for our brain to switch from processing one thing to another and one study says we lose 20-40% of our productivity when we do.<\/p>\n

Ideally you want to just grab the first item, regardless of what it is.\u00a0 If you grab something that is supposed to be easy, make sure you then follow the steps too.\u00a0 Look at it and decide what you want to do with it.\u00a0 Unfortunately some things are challenging and you might be unsure what you want to do with it.\u00a0 Putting it back in the container does not actually solve the dilemma; it just reminds you that you feel stuck about what to do with that item.<\/p>\n

This is a great place to use the O.H.I.O. principle I\u2019ve talked about before<\/a>.\u00a0 Handle the item only once \u2013 by making a decision about the item: loose category or place it belongs.\u00a0 Therefore you aim to make a decision about each item you handle and deal with it, even if it means putting it into another pile!<\/p>\n

One way to handle these \u201cloose\u201d items is to have multiple containers to sort into, and then when you are finished with that area you can see what needs a specific home.\u00a0 Yet, it requires making decisions \u2013 both in the moment of picking it up and categorizing it and then later figuring out where it needs to live.<\/p>\n

As usual, I think there are times for \u201cpending\u201d items.\u00a0 For instance with papers, many people believe that there needs to be a minimum of 3-5 papers before it\u2019s worth making a designated file for an item.\u00a0 You cannot always know whether you have enough of a thing to make a special place for them until you can see everything you are dealing with.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy to stop these unconscious habits, yet it serves us well if we can \u2013 whether we stop it entirely or just improve how frequently we slip into it.\u00a0 It\u2019d make your life so much simpler and the more you can practice this, the easier it becomes each time you need to handle a similar task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all accidentally started multi-tasking, digging into the dreaded junk drawer, and dread dealing with the various items, and often founder in making decisions. Save yourself the tedium and simplify things by dealing with each item as you handle it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,8,18,5,22],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-organizing","tag-behavior","tag-discipline","tag-goals","tag-household","tag-productivity"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7p82c-43","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jenniferlinnig.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}