I just came across this article, “The Magic of Doing One Thing at a Time,” by Tony Schwartz from Harvard Business Review today.
The article reported that 25 to 50 % of workers feel burned out and or overwhelmed at work. We are 25 % less productive in relation to the task at hand.
As I wrote this short blog, I had two PC screens open, four Windows IE page open. We are a generation being taught to read updates limited to 140 characters or less. Social Media has contributed to this multi-tasking phenomenon, with the constant sharing of photos, videos, articles, blogs, video blogs, status updates, micro-blogging, and geo location related social apps such as Foursquare.
The author talks about what can be done as a manager of people. However, I wanted to remember what I can do to focus, to be engaged, and to be fully productive on the task at hand—these are what I can do:
1. Do the most important thing in the morning, without interruption. For most evangelical Christians, this is the best time to read God’s Word and meditate on His Word. I personally have been reading 2 Kings, one chapter in Proverbs per day, and now on Romans 6. I try to read (3) chapters per day to get my day started.
2. Establish regular, scheduled times to think more long term, creatively, or strategically. This is pretty hard to do. Finding the right place is crucial. Now that it is spring season, a walk in the forest preserve is possible. Not too convenient if one’s work place is nowhere nearby a park or a forest preserve. This could be being alone in the conference room, and shutting the door behind you.
3. Take real and regular vacations. This means being totally being unplugged (no Blackberries or Smartphones, where there is a possibility of checking and responding to work e-mail). This probably also means being unplugged from social media, from Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Path, Foursquare, and all other Sharing Social Media apps. (I don’t know what it is, but getting a lot of “Likes” from that status update, a photo or photos, or videos posted on Facebook seem gratifying and tempting. Don’t.
I heard that changing a habit takes 21 days. It is best not to change cold turkey. I have resisted adding a third monitor to my PC. I resolve not to watch CNBC while working, i.e., not to worry about the stock market. I resolve to be fully engaged when the person I am talking to, and to the tasks before me, one thing at a time.
Alta Project Management 
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