Ever notice that life seems too busy and hectic? And that when you get together with your friends or you go online that everyone is describing how stressed and busy they are? I feel that we have become a culture that worships busy-ness. We bow down and worship at the altar of busy. Like that’s a good thing.
So, then we try to do more than one thing at once, to “improve” our efficiency. We fall into the trap of multi-tasking, or at least believing that we are multi-tasking. Research shows that we are actually switching back and forth between the events that we are attending to, not truly multi-tasking (which only about 2% of us are capable of doing). Which then leaves multiple opportunities for error and fails to allow us the deep and meaningful connection with the tasks at hand.
Try this instead. At the end of every day, look at your schedule for tomorrow – noting how many appointments, meetings, school-runs, yoga classes etc you have. Then create a list of 6 things that you will do. NO MORE. Don’t go all A-type on me and try to add more! Order the list according to priority – with the most important first, the second most important second and so on. What you don’t succeed in completing that day, is added to to the top of the list for the next day. Eat the frog (if you’re not sure what I’m talking about – check out my video here).
This technique, called the Ivy Lee Method was used about a hundred years ago by the productivity consultant Ivy Lee who went into Charles Schwab’s steel company and gave this advice to each executive. Lee asked Schwab to pay him in 3 months, based on how it shifted productivity. Lee received a check for $25,000, in 1918, equivalent to about $400,000 today).
It works because, like the Warren Buffett tactic of writing down 25 things that you want in your career and then selecting 5 (and actively AVOIDING the other 20, because they will distract you from your end goal), it forces you to simplify and actually be productive, focus on what’s important to you and follow the steps.
So, go ahead, what have you got to lose?
Tamsin Astor, YogaBrained LLC, May 2016.