One Thing at a Time

I have had a bit of a personal epiphany lately and I wanted to share it with you in the hope it may be of help to you.

Being honest, I ended 2021 feeling quite exhausted. I was pedalling hard to get lots of tasks finished before the new year, and whilst I achieved many of them, I felt drained by the end of it. Despite getting lots done, I was still struggling to switch off from the areas that needed my attention, and I was starting to notice the negative impact it was having on my days.

I spent some time over the Christmas period reflecting on this and realised an old way of thinking was no longer serving me. This was the ‘skill’ of multi-tasking.

I used to praise myself for being great at multi-tasking (and have even written a blog on it!) When I was multi-tasking I felt productive and busy, and when we are ‘busy’ it means we are achieving, right?! Well, actually that’s not quite true.

I realised that trying to juggle multiple things at once, such as writing part of a report here, tidying up there, checking emails on the side whilst answering a call in the middle, meant that things were getting partially done and taking twice as long as it needed to. Things felt so chaotic because they were! I felt mentally drained at times because there was no structure, and I was not committing my time and attention to one task at a time.

I decided that things needed to change and since the new year, I have been making a huge effort to be more present in the task at hand, and also plan out my days.

Here are some things that have helped me:

• Looking at the week ahead: Every Sunday, I now look over my diary for the week ahead so I know what is coming up and where I need to be. I then plan out my week, ensuring each day I have allocated time for multiple areas of my life. Some of these areas include health (such as time to exercise, meditation, sleep and reading), time for relationships (such as making the phone call to a loved one or scheduling a meal out), productivity (essential tasks that need to get done).

• Plan the day before: Each night before the next day, I look at the day ahead and plan that day out. I write exactly what I’m going to do and when, so that when I wake up in the morning there is no deliberating about what I do based on how I feel. It takes the emotion away as sometimes we may wake up not feeling like moving our body for example, but after we’ve done it, we realise it was the best thing we could have done! If we take that deliberation away, it is amazing how much energy you can save.

• One thing at a time: Rather than having multiple things in progress at once, I now focus on one thing.

If you are a multitasker like I was, I would encourage you to at least explore a different way and see if you find it beneficial.

You may read this and be thinking that sounds impossible, I have 3 children at home, a dog to look after and a full-time job, multitasking is my life! I understand, we all have different commitments and areas of focus at home and work. My answer to this is to start small and do your best. If you start to become more intentional with your actions, the momentum will build so that it seems less of an overhaul.

Here are some examples:

It could start as simply as this.

• When you are out for coffee with a friend, put your phone on silent and don’t have it near you so that you give the person in front of you your undivided attention (checking your phone whilst speaking to others or doing other tasks is a form of multitasking).

• For our wonderful Epoch community, if you are in for your adjustment at Epoch, how about leaving your phone in the car so that when you are getting warmed up for your adjustment and getting your spine moving on the wobble cushion, you are really allowing yourself time to just ‘be’, and also listen to how your body is doing (it will be beneficial for your spine too as you won’t be looking down!)

• If you have a project at work to complete, remove all distractions including phones, televisions, emails, and let your loved ones or colleagues know that you need some undisturbed time to get this done. Allow yourself regular breaks, but once completed celebrate your efforts then move onto the next area.

• If you have allocated some time to exercise, allow yourself to enjoy that time. The other tasks can wait, enjoy the moment and listen to your body.

I hope this provides some food for thought. I am proud to no longer be multi-tasking and have removed the badge of honour that I was clinging onto. Rather than being busy, I like to say I’m productive, and I feel a whole lot better for it and wish that for you too.

If this is an area you struggle with and need additional support, please let me know, I’d be happy to help.

With love,
Sarah