Quite often, businesses like yours and ours require a healthy partnership between those who multi-task well, and those who are extremely detailed and single-minded. As we craft this New Year’s message, allow me to use our partnership at BizVid Communications as the example for you and your burgeoning businesses during these challenging times.
This particular blog is focused on those of us who do not multi-task so well, but can give intense, pains-taking and intricate focus on the completion of a single project or task. BizVid Communications’ Emmy-winning partner, Bill, actually defines a multi-tasker. He can direct many crew members or work on multiple projects concurrently, but his effectiveness in multi-tasking needs support from a very detailed “one problem at a time” individual. That’s me. Together, we produce remarkable videos.
As a “one problem at a time“ person, I will share with those in your company who are similarly equipped. Even though we have a “one task at a time” mentality, we still have to somehow attend to numerous projects on our daily “to do” lists. Over the years I have devised a way (or maybe I borrowed it from someone else, I cannot recall) to accommodate this challenge. I will share this with you “single-taskers” now and hope that it helps you with your multi-tasking counterparts.
In my experience I have discovered that I can systematically deal with no more than about four or five “full attention demanding” projects in a day. Between those “attention demanding” endeavors, I find that I have other necessities slipping in: returning phone calls, answering emails or texts, talking with others, or doing some other menial chore or fulfilling some obligation not part of my focused activities. My plan is to create a daily “to do“ list and follow it as judiciously as possible. I designate a priority number value (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) for my “full attention demanding” projects. Then, I determine alphabetical priority to the daily, ancillary tasks demanded of me (a, b, c, etc.).
Here is the noteworthy key to offsetting the “one task at a time” mentality. Even the most demanding tasks will not require 100% immersion from beginning to end. There are times for lunch or bathroom breaks, unexpected phone calls, or other unforeseen interruptions. I use those times to carry out my secondary, “a, b, c” ancillary tasks.
By applying these suggestions, at the close of the workday, you can rejoice at all the items scratched off your “to do” list, and realize you have accomplished much more than expected. I hope this information helps my fellow “one task at a time” compatriots. I guess we will deal with the mult-taskers in another blog. Have a happy, productive, and wildly successful new year.