If you’re looking for a job, you may be more stressed than usual, not sleeping enough, using coffee to wake up and a pill to wind down, multi-tasking constantly, and still feeling like you’re not getting enough done. This video by Tony Schwarz is for you. In The Myths of the Overworked Creative, Tony says we must focus on what makes us feel most productive and then rest/renew.
Although many job descriptions will list multi-tasking as a required skill, most of us will benefit from finding ways to avoid splitting our focus. We’re not really capable of attending fully to two simultaneous tasks, so we alternate focus. Switching back and forth eats up more time and energy than had we finished one task before starting another, switching only once.
The best way I have done this is by turning off my email notification. I schedule email checks during my day so that I am not interrupted during my writing. When I’m writing your resume is my best time, the time I feel most productive, when I am in the flow of energy. (I know, most people say resume writing is the time they’re closest to suicide or at least a stiff drink. Not me. That’s when I love my work the most.)
Some people do the same thing with phone calls. They let all calls go to voicemail and then return them at scheduled times during their day.
These are ways to focus our work and our lives.
What have you done lately to focus your work or life? How has it helped you?
