Requirements in the job descriptions leave no doubt that the ability to work in a multi-tasking it is extremely high demand skill. Almost every job description of the manager contains "multi-tasking" and "stress tolerance".
It seems that if you develop these qualities, the way to a brighter future will be opened.
Is it possible to develop them? And whether it is necessary to do it?
We’ll try to understand this in the article.
I have been interested in the theme of personal effectiveness and time management since childhood, but for someone it is difficult to believe in it. As long as I can remember, I was trying to remake and optimize myself.
To force myself to get up at 6 am, to do exercises, pour with cold water, to remember material faster and more efficient, to read quickly and take notes using special characters.
And I read biographies of personalities who had a lot in life with undisguised envy.
But my attempts of real changes were ended, in the best case, in a few weeks.
For a long time it seemed to me that somewhere there are such special people, who are able to carry out 100 things at once from birth and each of them will be with perfect efficiency. They just come to being born lucky. Later, after reading books on personal effectiveness, I was filled by another myth, "if one man could do something, then another would be able to do it too." And I began to believe that at certain persistence, you can develop any quality.
I have been trying to be a man who is capable to work in the multitask mode for many years.
I remember an episode, which happened a few years ago.
I was sitting at work. My colleague went on vacation and I needed to do some of her work before the end of the working day. It had left 15 minutes until the end. If I don’t do it, company’s advertising in the magazine won’t come in time. With all sad consequences.
At this time, my personal client calls and wants to send her the finished task. Right now. And I create a source of headaches for her. But the task, of course, is not finished yet otherwise I would have sent it. It should be about an hour to complete it. I had planned to do it at work.
At the same time my parents call me and cry out that they have to travel on business right now, I have to come home immediately and take the children.
Immediately.
And then I feel like I have no strength for all this and most of all I just want to disappear. For example, to go somewhere in the Himalayas.
Of course, I somehow sent the promotional materials, reassured the client and went after the children. But on the exit from the work I realized that I can’t act in such way anymore and I have to do something with it.
But what exactly?
A few months of studying materials in the Internet (then, fortunately, there were tens of thousands times less than it is now) and I discovered coaching. It turns out that there are special people whose work is to help other people to achieve their goals. And ideally not to achieve only, but to do it with the most favorable way to themselves and others.
And one of the most popular tasks of the coach is to help the client to do more.
But as the saying goes, there is a nuance.
I have such pets as degu squirrels. They have a wheel in the cage which they twist singly and then together. By the way, the team work looks very impressive) In just a few seconds, they have time to do a lot: to twist the wheel, to eat, to drink from the drinking bowl and communicate with each other. They are extremely multitasking.
Is it still really important for you to do more things at a unit of time?
To get more done, unfortunately, does not automatically mean to be effective. The direct formulation of the problem "to complete more" inevitably leads to stress and as a result leads to such an effect as burnout. It is a state when you have one desire "not to be touched."
"How to catch all" it is the name of a popular training on time management.
It is as popular as hot cakes)
There's only one answer - "no way." You can have time to do important things for yourself and get the maximum of joy out of day that you have lived out.
And for this you should stop trying to "keep up with all" and concentrate on the essentials.
Time management, literally "control over the time" is a myth. Time goes on, regardless of our actions.
What can you really take control on? Your attention and your energy. These are the moments which any person by putting some efforts can influence.
Almost all methods of improving the personal efficiency lead to the three key things:
- goals should be attractive at 100% and not to cause internal contradictions;
- focusing on goals is necessary;
- the need to maintain the right (optimal) state.
There is a need to write a separate article about each of these moments, but some other time)
And what about multi-tasking and stress tolerance? Experience shows that they are automatically increasing or are ceasing to be relevant while focusing on the main.
Although a lot of life hacks are quite possible to be applied. But a bit later about them.
It will be interesting to know your opinion about multitasking.
Do you manage to keep up with everything?
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