You finally get a chance to sit down and work on your biz, only to catch a glimpse of your mile-long to do list, and feel like instantly overwhelmed. You really wanna knock some items off so you immediately open 5 tabs and start working, only to flip between tabs, realizing yet another thing you forgot to do, and getting sidetracked by things popping up that “must be done now” even though they aren’t why you opened your laptop.
Sound familiar?
This was 110% my own personal experience, and it honestly sucked. I felt like I never had a chance to breathe between taking care of my newborn, and trying to grown on online biz during naptimes with a never-ending list of to-dos and things never seeming to get done.
And that’s just the thing. If you keep flipping from tab to tab, from task to task, how many of those things are actually being finished? How many of them are your best work? Can you really close your laptop at the end of the day and say it was the best use of your time?
I definitely couldn’t.
But it wasn’t until much later that I realized what was really happening and how to actually focus.
Not only does multitasking kill your productivity, and focus, but it actually costs you time, up to 40% of your time is lost by switching from task to task.
If that isn’t enough to scare you into ending the multitasking facade once and for all, I don’t know what is…
So now that we can see just how much we lose by trying to multitask, here are 5 ways to prevent multitasking once and for all.
1. Put Your Phone Away
This is the first step for a good reason. It can be the easiest thing to distract us because we think it’s actually helping! Phones, along with social media, are super addicting and we have a funny way of thinking that we are actually doing something purposeful for our biz, when we are really just aimlessly scrolling.
When you sit down to get to work, either put your phone face down or better yet somewhere completely away from you. Make sure it’s on silent or airplane mode while you’re at it. All of those demanding notifications can wait. You’ve got an online empire to build! ?
2. Brain Dump
Ya know all those bomb ideas you have been bouncing around? Actually get them out and on to paper. Add details as they come, but don’t stress about actively getting anything done just yet. Let these new ideas form as you work toward your current goals, but don’t let them distract you.
Have a set time each week to review your Brain Dump pages. Flesh out any ideas you have had and see if there is anything you’re ready to take on. Just as important, notice what tasks need to wait or just aren’t a good fit for your biz in general.
3. Know Your Daily Goals
There is nothing worse than sitting down and seeing where your brain will take you. You will either find yourself aimlessly scrolling through social media, or worse, you will work on a task that is super low priority.
Set your goals in advance. Keep them simple and direct. Try just 2 goals a day, and really
If you don’t already have a goal crushing system, get started now.
4. Clear the Clutter
A cluttered desk = a cluttered mind.
This goes hand-in-hand with knowing your goals. Take everything else off of your desk and out of sight. It is so easy to see something sitting there and think “oh, I will just take care of this now” and get sucked into a super low priority task.
Keep everything else out of sight and out of mind. Clearing your work space will give your brain room to think.
RELATED POST: 22 Beautiful Desk Supplies That Will Help You Get Organized
5. Know Your Time Blocks
As mamapreneurs with limited time, every minute of time is incredibly valuable. Don’t waste your time when you know you will be distracted.
For me this means not working while my daughter is awake. I would try to work and my little girl would want to play of course, which created so much extra stress that held me back. Very early on it became clear that these two things were incompatible. So what happened?
I learned how to find my time blocks.
Now I get much more work done during the 4 hours I work each day while my daughter sleeps than I ever did when I tried to work all day.
Find limited time blocks with a clear start and end time. Make sure they are distraction free. Know exactly what your goals for that time are.