To Multitask Or Not Multitask, That Is The Question?

By Alice Coaxum

Are you taking small chunks of time out of your day where you can just focus on one aspect of your business at a time or do you prefer multitasking? I’d love to hear your opinion on this topic. By nature I’m a multitasker. I think most moms are, but instead of multitasking with my business lately I’ve been working at performing one task efficiently, for my important tasks, at a time and I notice that I am able to get more done in a shorter amount of time.

It was easy for me to weed out time wasters, things that make you busy but don’t add one thing towards your goals. But when it came down to necessary tasks, it wasn’t that easy because I was still wasting time by multitasking.

All multitasking isn’t bad.

Of course there are things that I will still multitask on. If I’m riding my exercise bike for example, and I want to hear an audiobook on business or another topic, I’m all for that kind of multitasking. Or listening to a podcast while looking for stock photos, listening to music while cooking or surfing a social network or site just for fun while talking on the phone. There is nothing wrong with that to me.

For each of us the answer may be different. You may be able to multitask with no problem. For me it’s not that I can’t focus on whatever I am doing when multitasking, it’s that it takes too long. I’ve just been aiming to shorten the amount of time that I spend completing tasks while still being efficient at them.

What didn’t work.

When I first told my family, years ago,  that I intended to work from home, they seemed cool with the idea until they realized that it would be taking some of my time. I’ll be the first to admit that I used to spend too much time, not achieving the goals that I had in mind for myself, a mistake common to many newbie because they think that the more they work, the more they’ll make. This “method” left me tired with a cranky family and no where near even in the same realm of my goals. I knew that I wanted to make money online but I didn’t know how.

I was pulled here and there and everywhere. Eventually I learned that wasn’t the life for me. I was working more than if I had to work a 9-5  job and with little or nothing to show for it. So I started coming up with a plan for myself and then I started working my plan and it has been paying off.

Making changes.

I started focusing and building my own business, weeded out time eaters like playing too long on my favorite Facebook games, unnecessary busy work, getting involved in everything under the sun that sounded business related and not talking on the phone while I’m working  but yet and still I was wondering why things would seem to take me so long. Even though I had made progress, it still felt like something was slowing me down.

I would see other marketers recommended that you chunk your time on the calendar or use a timer. I’ve tried it in the past and have recommended it myself because it works and then I would go back to my multitasking ways. When you are your own boss, no one is going to tell you “Hey stop wasting time! There is an easier way.” I have created and used schedules too, and highly recommend them if you have a problem with buckling down and getting things done, but I would always find a way to do something else at the same time.

Why I multitasked.

I felt like if I were doing this and that then I could kill two bird with one stone but in actuality I was taking three to four times as long to complete even one task. I might be on Squidoo, Twitter, checking email and blogging at the same time which isn’t good if you are trying to save time. The going back and forth and then figuring out where you left off eat up a considerable amount of time.

When you buckle down and set a time to complete a task, you may find that you’re working much faster than you thought you could. It least, that’s how it is for me.

So now when I decide to do a task, it’s one task at a time only for a set period of time and I like it so much better that way. I don’t feel frazzled or pulled in a million different directions. Because I am able to finish things faster I can move on to the next.

The non multitasking me.

When I’m writing, I focus on  just the writing. I’m not stopping to share something on Twitter, answering someone’s question, writing an email or surfing the internet. I’m also not listening to anything and I turn the television off. I’ve noticed that all the little things that you stop and do, really add up and I work much faster without the television blaring in the background. I tend to want to watch a little when it’s on and before you know it, some time has went past so that little time waster had to go. Now I only turn on the television when either: A. I can watch it, or B. I’m not doing anything important.

I’m able to add content to my PLR store, ShopForPLR, quicker than before because I can write more in a shorter amount of time. This is important to me because the more I’m able to stock my store with quality content the faster I am able to grow my business, since I’ll have more to offer.

Now when I’m reading a business book or am taking time to learn from some type of business course, I’m not pausing to do this or that. I’m setting aside specific amounts of time to do a task and then when the time is up, I go on to the next task. I don’t want to spend the whole day on just one thing either, so this is helpful to me.

I decided that I want to work without distractions as much as possible so it doesn’t take me as long to get what I need to do done, barring the fact that I’m a homeschooling mother and wife. That comes first, so if my children need some help or my husband needs me I pause what I’m doing. Because I work from home, my family does respect that I do need time to work, but this wasn’t always the case.

I’ve also been working on not feeling like I have to do everything in one day. Your thoughts can help or hinder you so it’s so important to watch the things that you dwell on. As long as I am accomplishing something every day that I do work, then I feel good about that. I don’t have to and I can’t do it all in a day.

I like having me time to spend reading or doing something else that I enjoy, like trying on new makeup, listening to music, talking on the phone, playing a game or just socializing online without having anything to do with business. I like spending time with my husband and our children and I can’t do that if I’m working every waking minute of the day.

While my family does respect my working time, because they know if I don’t work at all, I won’t make money since money doesn’t just fall out of my laptop or phone … though it would be nice if it did LOL, they would not appreciate me not being able to spend any time with them.

My husband and I like to talk, cuddle, catch up on shows on Netflix or Amazon, shop or go out to eat and I can’t do that if I’m busy all the time with work.  My daughters like to talk, boy can they talk  your ears off but I love it because they feel comfortable to communicate with me, some parents of teens complain that their kids tend to shy away from them or cut them out and I don’t have that problem.

They like to show me their new hairstyles, makeup styles (I get my makeup tips from them, I’ll admit it), drawings, books that they’re writing, videos they find interesting etc and I want to be able to spend that time with them, after all isn’t that why most people want to work at home, so they can control their own time.

I’m sharing this because as much as I like to think of myself as one of kind I know that I can’t be the only person that ever faced this issue of needing to manage their time better on necessary tasks. It took me a while to get this point where I can work without having to multitask. I still get the urge, but I don’t do it. If you are someone who has already weeded out time wasters but still feels slowed down then it’s time to look at how you are working, see if multitasking is the culprit.