Getting Things Done

I want to toss this out there and see what sticks for you. Multi-tasking is something that is expected of almost everyone these days. Being able to do more than one thing at once (walk, chew bubble gum) seems to be the only way to do anything. But is it really all its cracked up to be, or is it simply shooting yourself in the foot in a more productive-looking way?

Why Multi-Tasking is Good

Multi-tasking is good because making progress on more than one front at a time ensures your project(s) will be completed faster. You will get the added benefits of experiencing two or more different pieces of progress, learning multiple things at once, and seeing finished projects more frequently. Imagine the benefits you can gain if you're able to increase your profit by 10% because you've finished several 2% increases at almost the same time. You will also be able to take what you've learned from one project, and put it to good use in another immediately. For example, you might learn a shortcut to an equation you frequently use while working on Project 1, and that same shortcut presents a breakthrough on Project 2. When considering the positive results that multi-tasking brings, it's easy to say that multi-tasking is good.

Why Multi-Tasking is Evil

Multi-tasking is evil because it guarantees that your focus is never on one problem at a time. It pulls you in several different directions, and the experiences you get aren't as powerful because they are being saturated by other potentially conflicting experiences. For instance, two projects that you are working on can each have an emergency arise. The first emergency requires your physical presence in the next nearest city, while the second emergency requires your physical presence in the office for 24 hours straight. Unfortunately you are not able to internalize the causes of each of the emergencies because you must go from one to the other immediately. Multi-tasking also adds stress to your life by setting unrealistic expectations. In the previous example, you may stress about not being able to be in both places at once. You might also stress about not being able to foresee and both emergencies. To put it simply, multi-tasking is a burden to a productive workflow, and an inhibitor to a healthy life.

Having reviewed some pros and cons of multi-tasking, I believe that doing more than one thing at a time is a good way to get a bad result (unless it's literally chewing bubble gum and walking). If your goal is to meet a quantity of work, it may be the way to go. If you have any duty for quality, you may want to reconsider.

If you're like most people (the odds are in my favor in guessing that), you realize that there's too much stuff to do, and not enough time to do it in. This is especially true of young entrepreneurs because you're being pulled in every direction all the time. It's suprising how much time is wasted each day because people don't realize that there are faster ways to do common (and necessary) tasks to increase the time you have to accomplish your goals. Here are three things that I've made a conscious effort to improve that resulted in more usable hours during the day:

• Becoming an Early Riser

  I was curious about how those early morning folks did it, so I Googled it and found a great article on the subject. It took a little practice automating my awakening (so that I couldn't talk myself out of it), but the results were excellent. I sleep between 5 and 8 hours, averaging 6.5 each day. Assuming that most young entrepreneurs feel sleep deprived at 8 hours, let's say I'm gaining 1.5 hours a day simply by being an early riser! That's a gain of almost 3.5 times the normal work-month in my year!

• Learning to Read Effectively

  "Does it really work," you might ask. Yes! My freshman year of college, I found a little flyer on my desk as I walked into class. On it, it promised that I could read up to 3 times faster by taking this course. I thought about the benefits and decided to attend the 1 hour "seminar" advertised on the flyer. The presenter explained that she could teach me how to read much faster, and study more efficiently, by attending her course. She then showed proof that it worked by running me through a few exercises. Just in that hour, my reading bumped up by 100 words per minute. After taking the course (at a minimal cost compared to its savings), I was at around 1000 words per minute with no loss in comprehension. Don't let any non-speed readers tell you that it doesn't work if they haven't tried it! I know I have saved several hours a year using this skill, and I've been able to obtain more information than I could have beforehand.

• Getting Things Done

  Since I never really cared to be the most organized person in the world, there were a lot of things I was supposed to do that slipped through the cracks when they shouldn't have. Mostly, homework. I finally got tired of it and wanted to figure out a way to keep on top of all of the things that I had to do. I'd read about Getting Things Done in a few different places, and thought I'd give it a shot. I bought the audiobook from iTunes, and listened while I was out and about. Unlike many systems that only work when you do everything to the letter, Getting Things Done gives you several productivity enhancing ideas. In my opinion, the two most helpful are defining a next action, and reminding yourself of pending actions. If you are even the least bit unorganized, consider buying the book, or renting it from your local library. You'll stop wasting your time recovering from dropped balls, unnecessary planing, and trying to remember what's on your plate.

There are a few more things that I do to find more time, and between them all, I feel like I am much more productive than I could have ever been otherwise. I will write more about each of the three ideas above in the future.