If you’re a living, breathing, human being, I guarantee that at some point in your life you’ve felt too busy. Maybe you’re feeling too busy right now, maybe you felt too busy this morning, or maybe you’ll feel too busy later today.
We’ve all been there before — even me, and I preach “time management”!!
And because I preach time-management, I receive lots of questions on the subject…but these are my two favorites!
1. “How do you manage everything you do on a daily and weekly basis?”
2. “Is there a secret to getting more done?”
Luck for you, I can answer both these questions with one answer…
Answer: Do one thing at a time!
I know this answer sounds simple {maybe too simple} but if you think about it, one of the main reasons we fail to “get things done” is because we procrastinate — which causes stress — which then encourages procrastination — which causes more stress…you get the picture, right?
With my business, website, home renovations, side jobs, various day-to-day activities, and all the volunteer work I do — I most definitely stay busy…sometimes even I feel overwhelmed by everything I have to do!
However, my time-management philosophy has always been: work ahead, do it now, do something rather than nothing, and aim for progress not perfection. So I guess I’ve always just pushed myself to do one thing, even if I don’t want to.
One thing leads to two things:.
Amazingly, by doing just one thing, I build up a bit of momentum and a sense of accomplishment; which then encourages me to keep going and finish everything on my list!
The “Do One Thing” method is how I accomplish all my daily responsibilities…and I think it just might work for you too!
Patty@homemakersdaily says
The only way I can do more than one thing at a time is if they are related – like cooking. I can cook two dishes at the same time but I can’t cook and clean at the same time. Multi-tasking is a recipe for disaster!
Elizabeth@ReadySetSimplify says
I need to work on this! I have been telling myself lately, “Focus….focus….focus.” It is so easy to get 20 things partly done and nothing really done!
heidi @ wonder woman wannabe says
focus does make a difference –
in order for me to complete things i MUST write it down as a goal or ‘to-do’
if it’s not written down, it’s not nearly as likely that it will get completed.
when a task gets done, i then get the extreme pleasure of crossing off the list as well!
~h
Judy says
I think another good reason to focus on one thing at a time is that I always try to consolidate and do multiple things at a time…before I know it, I’ve forgotten the first 3 things I was doing and they don’t end up getting done. Oops 🙂
HP says
I loved reading this! With being a housewife, and working freelance there are days when I feel so overwhelmed. If I didn’t use a daily planner when I’m at home, I would a huge mess. Planning my hours out during thee work week keeps me focused on my job, and my housework. For a long time I used Google’s planner, but realized I tend to stay more focused when I physically “Write down” my goals in a book, rather than type it into the computer. 🙂