INSPIRATIONAL MUSINGS 37 Learn How to Multi-Task and Increase Your Level of Productivity

"We were taught to be dependable, responsible, the top of our classes at school, the most organized and efficient babysitters in town, the very miniature models of our hardworking farmer/nurse mother, a pair of junior Swiss Army knives, born to multitask."

— Elizabeth Gilbert

These days there are many things fighting for one's attention: Spirituality, family, work, friends, movies, sports on TV, holidays, charity works, politics, health, intellectual development, social media, internet etc. The truth is you can't completely neglect one aspect for another, you somehow have to put everything into the mix so you can be a

complete human being. I have always respected mothers for their ability to do several things at the same time without letting one suffer for the other. Mothers will be fixing a meal in the kitchen, at the same time helping the kids with homework in the living room, baking, answering phone calls, cleaning the house and picking beans all at once. That's the kind of mother I knew growing up and I also see my wife doing the same today. For long, I dared not try it, it was almost impossible. I found it extremely difficult to combine two tasks at a time, it was a no no. In the past, once I got involved in a task, I will have to give all my attention to it till I complete it before moving onto the next, I felt it was a male thing, that men and women are wired differently along these lines, at least that was how I used to console myself, till I caught the bug myself not too long ago.

As you well know if you are married that it takes a while for a newly married couple to get used to themselves, when my wife and I were passing through the phase of 'knowing' ourselves, this was something she just couldn' t understand, she always wondered why it was such a diffi elationshipcult thing for me to combine two different things at the same time. Being me, I hardly back out of contests, especially if the outcome will add value to my life. So I decided to improve myself in this area, I took up the challenge to learn how to multi-task and this was what I found out — many people believe that multi-tasking is overrated, and that it's actually a way to do many wrong things at the same time, most of the opinions I sampled in the process turned out to be similar. Most people think the best way to be effi elationshipcient is to focus on one thing at a time. Luckily, I kept trying till I found out it was not only possible to multi-task, you can even be very effi elationshipcient at it. All you need to know how to do is concentrate efforts on the most important tasks whilst executing others beneath.

The new millennium came with many discoveries and at the same time with several challenges, the millennium changed the way the whole world was doing business such that no one can effectively do anything these days without the internet. In a typical office you will find so many things competing for an employee or business owner's time. Things like E-mails, Information on the internet, Text Messages, WhatsApp messages, Phone calls, social media, satellite TV, official memos, proposals, meetings with staff and clients, official outgoing letters and all sorts of issues depending on the role you play in your office. Things get done at the speed of light these days, so there's absolutely no time to waste on anything, if you are the busy type, you can hardly spare a thought for any other thing. Don't also forget that you still have personal family issues to attend to if you are married, all of these things continue to compete for your time.

Now, if I may ask, how do you stay on top of all these matters if you don't learn how to multi-task? How do you stay sane despite all of these things begging for your attention if you don't learn how to effectively deal with many tasks at the same time? It's absolutely impossible in my opinion except you don't get to be this busy at the workplace. The earlier you embrace the concept of multi-tasking the better for you, that's the only way to remain effective at not just the workplace, even at home these days, because unlike before so many things now compete for our time, for example, social media was just a means of relaxation or leisure, but now it's a very important business tool, so you just can't do without that phone or tab even at home. Everything important is on the news these days, it's hard to do without the satellite TV and yet you still have to concentrate on personal goals and the family, so multi-tasking is unavoidable. It is no longer a hype, or what house wives must know how to do. We must all learn it.

How to Multi-Task Effectively

At the time of penning this, a lot of people still do not write down their daily plans on paper, they execute as work demands, anyone who does this can hardly focus on one task at a time not to talk of multi-tasking, the first secret to knowing how to multi-task effectively is to write things down, once the thought occurs to you concerning anything you have to do or the need to do something

new arises, quickly write it down, update on your to do list all through the day as it comes, that's the number one way to multi- task.
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Secondly, you should have a schedule you must adheret o. One of the challenges of work is to get on your desk scattered in your thoughts. You will be shocked these thoughts will remain scattered in your head all through the day. You won't get ahead with any task, and before you know what is happening, the whole day is gone. There has to be a time-table which starts with your to do list for the day, then you add other things till you fill up every minute and hour with the most important things to achieve in the course of the day. Do not deceive yourself by putting up on your notice board a time schedule you don't or can't keep to, that will be counter-productive, always do everything within your means except for unforeseen circumstances to keep to your daily work schedule.

Thirdly, choose your tasks starting with the most important ones, and then the least important ones with deliberateness. Your speed of execution has to be perfect, the whole idea is not to dwell on a task for too long, so you touch on the most important aspect as quickly as possible and move onto the others. Always try to combine tasks that flow together at once. For example, put paper work together, do all social media tasks at the same time, combine calls and text messages, WhatsApp messages together, don't jump from one segment to the other, you will be overwhelmed in the process. You can start with this, much later you will master it in such a way that you can jump from one segment to another effortlessly without making a mess of your goals and tasks.

In it all, you might not follow the steps I have outlined to the letter, you can adopt what works for you but don't lose sight of the lessons, learn how to multi-task and become more productive in the process.

Chapter end