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Recently I’ve found myself feeling more overwhelmed or burned out at the end of the day.
It’s not just the time commitment of working, but also the fact that I’m juggling too many things at the same time – job, going back to school, starting a website, learning a new hobby, and writing.
I’ve lost stopping points. I feel like I’m running a race with no finish line.
When I’m on the phone with the client I’ve been working with for the past few months, I find myself checking my calendar at the same time. When I eat, I do it in front of my laptop, so I can also get a few tasks done. Even when I’m trying to take a break, I find myself working. Recently, I went to hang out with a friend at the park, and while on my way, I found myself constantly grabbing my phone to check my email at every red light.
The major price of overwhelming myself with tasks has been a decline in my productivity. When I split my focus, I cause myself to not be fully engaged in any one of the tasks I must get done. Furthermore, when I split my focus between multiple tasks, I’ve noticed that it takes much longer to finish everything that must be completed.
I’m able to complete twice (somethings three times) as many tasks If I focus on completing a single task without stopping for a planned amount of time before taking a break or moving on to another task. The best way for me to reach my peak level of productivity is by breaking down the tasks I must complete into periods of work, followed by short breaks for a quick breather.
Even though I know multitasking is the cause of me feeling overwhelmed, sometimes it’s hard not to fall into the trap of trying to do more than one thing at once.
If you can relate to how I’ve been feeling recently, I want to share some advice I recently learned on how to stop that behavior.
- Break all your tasks into precise times and don’t go more than an hour without taking a small break – a simple two-minute break to recharge. Also, include a longer (10-15 minute) break in the middle of the day.
- Schedule time at the beginning and end of the day for checking your email.
- Eat the frog. Basically, what that means is focus on your biggest (and/or most important) task first.
- And lastly, remember that vacations are important. If you feel both overwhelmed and burnt out, that’s probably a sign that you’re working too much. It is important to disconnect from work occasionally, to keep you both sane and feeling recharged.
If your anything like me, then you must admit that you love distractions. Why else would you engulf yourself with multiple tasks at the same time?
If you want to be more productive and not feel burnt out at the end of the day, you must stop doing more than one thing at the same time. Not only does multitasking not work, but it also drops your I.Q.
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A version of this post was published on BlogWithDarnell and is republished with the author’s permission.
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Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
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