Picture this…
You are happily walking through the park with two small children, one in each hand, both neatly under control. They are staying put as you have a firm grip on each of them meaning that things are calm and you are getting to where you need to be without any trouble or stress…when suddenly, out of the trees comes another child, rushing at you and demanding to take your hand as well. You know that if you take your hand from one of the original two children then they will dash off and end up lost and confused somewhere, so instead you pop this third child into one of your hands. So now you have 3 children in two hands….it’s a bit more complicated and the likelihood of someone tripping up is highly probable, but it is almost (almost!) do-able. Oh look…here comes a forth child also wanting to hold your hand so you dutifully place their small hand in yours. Now there are 2 hands and four children all crammed together and you are all shuffling along slowly, not really getting anywhere and stepping on one another. It’s messy, uncomfortable, confusing and getting pretty stressful but almost (almost!!) workable.But guess what…here comes a fifth child…oh and a sixth…all running at you from the trees, all clamouring for your attention…all wanting to grab a hand…until suddenly, you are totally overwhelmed by all these small children and you fall over and they all pile on top of you and that’s the end of your day!
Now, imagine all those children are the jobs you give yourself each day. As you can clearly see, multi tasking is not as effective as we are led to believe and even if you consider yourself the Master Multitasker, you’re actually not, because such a person simply cannot exists!
The Science of Multi-Tasking
Performing one or two of those jobs, occasionally at once, is fine of course – it is not overwhelming and according to a study performed in 2010 you are perfectly capable of completely these two tasks (or looking after these two children), without too much problem. This is because your brain, with its two seperate lobes can divide its concentration between two jobs at once without too much cause for concern. Study co-author Etienne Koechlin explains: “It [is as] if each frontal lobe is pursuing its own goal [but] this finding . . . suggests that the frontal function cannot keep track of more than two goals/tasks at the same time.” So by adding in even one extra task, your brain suddenly starts to feel overwhelmed which triggers stress and in turn the introduction of mistakes in your work – or in the case of the children, the odd trip or fall. Once you get beyond that third or forth task though, you are dealing with a full on overwhelming attack of stress and the consequences that can incur.
Consider that the majority of people who run their own business, such as yourself, work at a high level of stress, day in day out, attempting to run, organise, plan, create and direct everything at once. Even if you have a team to delegate to, do you find yourself checking their work or just Either way, you can imagine that you are looking at dangerously high, on-going stress levels which, if left unchecked, can eventually lead to mental health issues such as depression and being signed off work – hardly a great use of your limited time.
‘Child mind’ your to do list and stop the multitasking mayhem
As the name suggests, we are here to ensure that you are have the clearest vantage point from which to run your business. As the head or founder of your company, no doubt you wish you could concentrate more time and put more emphasis back on to the cash/lead generating tasks so as to expand and develop your empire, but if you are constantly attempting to multitask or prioritise other peoples’ work over and above the importance of your own role, then the most crucial aspect of your job cannot be taken care of with a clear focus – if at all! Imagine how many hours are being wasted day in day out by your futile efforts to multi task? Yes, you may ‘prioritise’your jobs, but keep in mind that a ‘priority’ is not a number of tasks all with the same amount of importance put upon them, but a singular job which holds the highest or most crucial importance. As soon as you start trying to prioritise a large number of jobs, and attempt to complete them via multi tasking, then you will quickly find that you are losing time, energy and money in no time!
Stop the Multi-Task Hell
So it’s time to take charge once again and give some of those children back to their ‘parents’!
Focus on what is important to you – what is your priority either within your overall job role, or just for that day or week? Whatever is left over is not for you to concern yourself with, but for you to delegate, to those who should also know what their own priority is for that day or week and Clear View is here to be a part of that dependable and professional team.
We will enable you to free up your schedule and put a stop to your your multitasking hell by taking on the additional tasks you need not concern yourself with on a regular basis; anything from administration tasks and property management to marketing, social media management, travel arrangements and so much more!
Give up the part time child minding day job and get back to concentrating on the priority at hand!
