I always thought having an ability to multitask was a good thing--a skill to list on a resume, a positive asset at work. My impression was that it said, "WOOOOOOOO, I can do TWO things awesomely at the SAME TIME! Sometimes MORE than two things!"

Lately, I've been finding quite the opposite is true. Multitasking sucks and instead of doing multiple things well, I'm just doing multiple things crappily, and nine times out of ten I have to go back and do them over again. Combine that with an increasingly ADD nature of checking my email every time I get a new message, feeling the need to get involved with every single conversation going on within a 20-foot radius of my desk, and having a to-do list as long as my arm, I decided it's time to revamp my work habits.

I thought about it over the weekend and realized I'm multitasking essentially all day long. That's exhausting. Examples from the past couple of days:

1. When talking to my parents on the phone (which I only do twice a week), I'm either playing on the Internet, reading magazines, or tidying up the apartment.
2. When I'm watching TV I'm either painting or lifting weights
3. On Saturday I was trying to do crunches on a stability ball while reading an article for work (!!!)

That last incident kind of drove the point home for me that sometimes doing one thing well is better than doing two things half-assedly. I was falling off the ball and doing shitty crunches, plus I wasn't retaining what I was reading whatsoever and I had to reread the article when I was done. I thought I was being productive by combining two things at a time but all I'd done was doubled my efforts and gained nothing.

For me, the two biggest things that hurt my output at work are distractions such as email and phone calls, and trying to do too many things at once. I have a tendency to want to respond to every email and every request right away and end up adding mountains to my to-do list as a result.

This week I'm turning over a new leaf...it's Monday, so it's a fresh start and all that, right?

1. Write a to-do list for the day first thing in the morning and allot chunks of time to each task. Example: status meeting 9-10, edit document 10-10:30, etc. I'll only deviate from this plan if something urgent comes up. Sounds anal, huh? Well, I like anal. (Wait...what...??)
2. Check email at designated times only. This is going to kill me. I'll check email at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, and 4:00 and again before leaving. Oh, wow. I'm shaking a little just thinking about it.
3. At the end of the day I'll make a to-do list for tomorrow.
4. Use iTunes as needed as an anti-distraction tool (with headphones, obvi.) I have lots of nice, soothing, get-shit-done music that I like to listen to at work and I find I do my best work when I'm kind of zoned out and not paying as much attention to what's going on around me in the office. I love the busy, active atmosphere but it's REALLY hard to hunker down and not be social a lot of the time, which is why if I have an important document to work on, like a brief or a report, I usually prefer to work on it from home or out of the office so I can concentrate better.

I'm so excited to get to work right now and get started with my new habits, I can hardly brush my teeth.

Happy Monday, everyone!