“Hey Siri, create an event for 10:30 am on Wednesday.”
“You already have 2 events at that time, should I schedule it anyway?”
“Yes.”
Multi-tasking was a hot item in the early 2000’s. It was on everyone’s resume and a highly sought-after skill.
Around 2010, multi-tasking became a dirty word and a recipe for exhaustion, distraction, confusion and scattered performance.
Studies confirmed that switching between tasks resulting in having to take time to ramp-up time between them, causing lost time and more expended mental energy when “switching gears” between tasks.
In a world full of pings, notifications and google on the go, focus has become the go-to aspiration and skillset.
The ability to hone in on the one thing, what matters most, simplification, cutting the noise and getting to the point.
The problem is, there are just too many things. Too many to-do’s, avenues, networks and frankly speaking – too much cool shit out there.
So how can we do it all?
How can we have it all?
Enter a whole new approach to muli-tasking. How to create time out of nowhere.
Your brain is not designed to write an email and hold a phone conversation at the same time.
But, your brain can do several things at once and, drumroll please, EVEN BETTER when you become strategic in your multitasking.
The idea behind strategic multi-tasking is to multiply your time by doing more than 1 thing at the same time, thus multiplying your time 2X or even 3X.
In addition to multiplying your time with multiple tasks, with strategic multi-tasking, you will be able to reduce the time it takes to perform each task – AND enhance the effectiveness of each task.
So, here’s the gameplan:
It comes down to 2 things.
Tasks are categorized like this:
These are just samples. You can create and expand your own lists.
| TASK COMBINATIONS | HABIT TASK | CREATIVE TASK | FOCUS TASK | LEARNING TASK |
| HABIT TASK | YES | YES | NO | YES |
| CREATIVE TASK | YES | NO | NO | NO |
| FOCUS TASK | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| LEARNING TASK | YES | NO | NO | NO |
Basically, you can ONLY combine Habit tasks with your choice of
Remember, you can only combine tasks if they involve different senses. Reading and cleaning the house both require vision in order to perform the task, but cleaning the house and listening to an audiobook is doable.
Creative tasks are better done in combination for a variety of reasons. Starting with the fact that our society is predominantly left-brained centric, getting into our creative mode can be challenging and time-consuming.
Combining creative tasks with habit tasks:
In a study done by Stanford University, walking boosts creative thinking by an average of 60 percent.
Science shows that some of our most creative ideas happen in the shower due to a relaxed, distracted state and dopamine release.
Strategic multi-tasking requires you to do some planning ahead, categorizing and grouping of tasks. In effect, you create a holistic picture of your tasks and awareness around them, and after them.
According to Parkinson’s Law, “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
So, the more work you’re aware of, the more efficient you are.
Bonus points for time-blocking.
Smart stacking is all about 2 things, timing and location.
Planning your tasks around the amount of time they will take and where you will be. For example, starting your laundry and doing dishes, then doing computer work, so that your laundry is ready to dry and your dishes are dry and can be put away before you need to leave the house.
Sure beats doing computer work first on impulse and realizing that you need to leave the house while your laundry is still in the wash and has 20 mins left.
For those of you who hire someone to do all your non-lucrative tasks, here’s another example.
Prep an email the night before to send automatically in the morning while you’re in a meeting, so that you can get a response by the time the meeting’s done. Then, maximize the bit of “dead time” between your meeting time and lunch-time by referring to your list of quick tasks to knock out. Plan your deep work for after lunch. Then walk to lunch while brainstorming. Upon returning from lunch, jump into “deep work” or focus tasks.
This classic technique involves grouping like tasks that complement each other. Completed in succession or through strategic multitasking.
For example, while I’m writing for Consciousness Liberty I write and listen to music. And between writing sessions, I listen to content related to what I’m writing about to see if there is anything that can enhance the article. While listening to content, I like to do a habit task like cleaning, or organizing my computer desktop/workspace.
The world around us is evolving at a rapid pace, and so should we.
Take the ideas that work for you and design your conscious evolution. You will be pleasantly surprised by how much more you can accomplish.
References:
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