Focus - Leo Babauta [31]
Take deep breaths, stretch, and take breaks now and then. Enjoy life. Go outside, and appreciate nature. Keep yourself sane.
Keep a very short to-do list, clear distractions, do one thing at a time, until the list is finished. That's single-tasking productivity at its essence.
on multi-projecting
There's a distinction between tasks and projects that should be made in any discussion of mult-tasking. Doing multiple tasks at the same time is less effective than single-tasking. But doing multiple projects at once is sometimes more effective than only one project at once.
Sometimes it's necessary to work on multiple projects -- even if you are in complete control of your work, which is not true for many people. If you only work on one project at once, often you are held up because you're waiting for somebody to do a task or reply to you with necessary information. What happens then? Or what happens if you're collaborating on a project but while someone else is doing their part, you don't have much to do? In these cases, it would probably be a waste of your time if you just waited, and worked on nothing else.
So multi-projecting can work -- you get one project going, but while you're waiting on something, you can switch to a second or even third project. All the time, you're only working on one task at a time, until each task is done, however.
Do note that there's a danger in taking on too many projects at once. I'd suggest taking on as few projects as possible. If you can do only one project at a time, without getting stuck in waiting, then do that -- it's much more effective and you'll get your projects done much faster. But when you must wait, you can switch to a second project. Again, work on as few at a time as you can get away with.
3: the power of a smaller work focus
"Success demands singleness of purpose."
– Vince Lombardi
When you set your sights on a large target, broad in scope, you spread yourself thin. This is why the best companies are those with a laser focus. They do less, but they do it better.
Apple is a good example of this -- they don't try to tackle every computer niche. They don't make netbooks or low-end PCs, for example. They have a very small product line for such a big company. And yet, they do extremely well -- they make beautiful, well-made, high-functioning devices that customers absolutely love. And they make billions to boot. That's just one example of many.
A narrower focus allows you to do a better job -- to be better than anyone else, perhaps, at the narrower thing that you're good at.
the danger of a broad focus
One of the biggest problems many people have in their careers, with work projects, with their businesses, is too broad of a focus. Just a few examples:
Working on too many projects and trying to juggle your time between all of them.
Adding too many features to your software and creating a bloated application.
Trying to do everything for every customer, and spreading yourself too thin.
Trying to be everything for everybody, but ending up being nothing good.
Trying to please all your bosses and coworkers and forgetting what's important.
Communicating all the time via email, several social networks, phones, text messaging, cell phones, faxes and more... and never communicating with any depth.
Again, there are lots of other ways to have a focus that's too broad. In the end, it's a choice between trying to do everything but doing it poorly, or doing only a tiny amount of things really well.
take stock
What's your current focus at work? Are you a writer involved in a whole range of writing projects at once? Are you a developer trying to offer something that appeals to everyone and solves every problem? Do you try to satisfy every possible customer, even if most of those