“Singletasking is not a luxury; it is a necessity. You can accomplish far more doing one thing at a time…..”
Single-Tasking
1. Remove distractions from your environment.
TRY: Putting your phone in another room, on silent, so it is well out of reach. This way you have to make a conscious choice to stop what you are doing and go to another room to look at it. On your computer, have one thing open at a time, rather than multiple programs/tabs running at once. Turn off notifications to programs running in the background (Outlook, Teams).
2. Set a timer for yourself.
TRY: Determining a reasonable amount of time that you can maintain focus and pay attention to a task. As well, think about during what part of the day do you work best (have the most energy and best concentration). Morning? Afternoon? Evening?
3. Break tasks down into smaller ‘chunks’.
TRY: Taking a large task (assignment, essay, research, etc.) and breaking it up into smaller tasks. This makes the work less daunting and gives you a sense of completion early on.
4. Create deadlines for yourself.
TRY: Setting your own deadlines gives you more control over the task and helps lessen the impact of unexpected delays (e.g., computer crashes, Library book is checked out, missing lecture notes, etc.).
5. Start with something simple, interesting or fun!
TRY: Working on something that you enjoy first, or something that isn’t overly complex, this helps get the ball rolling and can be motivating.
SINGLETASKING: Get More Done – One Thing at a Time
Author: Devora Zack, Barrett-Koehler Publishers (2015)
THE SHALLOWS: What the Internet is doing to our Brains
Author: Nicholas Carr, WW Norton Publishers (2011)
THE MOVES THAT MATTER: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life
Author: Jonathan Rowson, Bloomsbury Publishing (2019)
THINK AGAIN: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know
Author: Adam Grant, Viking Publishing (2021)
mindful: healthy mind, healthy life.