Posted by Dave Lorenzo - Business Coach

Thomas, a gentleman I have been advising on his career goals, told me that one of the main things that limits his productivity and quality of work is frequent distractions— interruptions by colleagues, requests from his supervisor to attend to matters that could usually wait a day or two. Thomas says he is constantly juggling five projects at once and feels he can’t do any of them justice. His frustration reminded me of an article on multi-tasking I read a while back.

“According to research compiled by David E. Meyer, a psychology professor at the University of Michigan, multitaskers actually hinder their productivity by trying to accomplish two things at once. Mr. Meyer has found that people who switch back and forth between two tasks, like exchanging e-mail and writing a report, may spend 50 percent more time on those tasks than if they work on them separately, completing one before starting the other.”

My advice to Thomas was to clear his desk entirely, have an in box on a separate desk, and shift any projects that are not truly urgent from his desk to the in box, arranging them in order of priority. He says that this has helped him get back to focusing on one thing at a time and has reduced the small errors that creep in as a result of distractions.

This strategy applies to the big picture as well. The more goals you have, the less likely you are to achieve any of them. If you have one overarching goal (or two or three), you will most likely find it easier to focus on it and do something to move closer to it every single day.

Filed under: Goals
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