Why Single Tasking Is So Much More Productive

(or How To Get An Additional 8640 Seconds To Work On Your Future)

Often when I look at the name of this website, I remove the word map from it, Mind(s)Unleashed. I believe that is what we are all working on and trying to accomplish. We want to use our minds in a much more productive way.

One of the biggest reasons why people fail is not because people are not smart, don’t work hard or lack skills. One of the biggest reasons is because they use their limited amount of time on far too many things.

Just go with me on this one. We have 86400 seconds each day. About 1/3 of that is spend sleeping and eating. Let’s say we have 1/2 of that to work on our goals (including our work time of course).

That leaves 43200 seconds each day.

Many people try to focus or do about 100 things every day, averaging to almost 432 seconds per task. That is slightly over 7 minutes!!!

Now watch what happens if you focus on only 10 things, or perhaps just 5! You end up with 4320 seconds (1 hour, 12 minutes) or even 2 hours and 24 minutes per task.

Do you think you will move forward faster when you focus on just a few tasks? I am sure you will. By the way… many of the 100 tasks are not contributing anyway to your development or well-being. They often only help you to become a skilled procrastinator.

For me, the mindmap is a wonderful tool to focus. Of course the mindmap will not do the work for me, but it will help me focus. Here’s how.

I map out all my tasks and group them in a mindmap. Then I identify in that map which tasks are important to me and my future. These tasks are highlighted in the map or sometimes moved to a new map. I never pick more than 5 tasks. Then it gets really exciting… I start to work on the task I feel needs my attention right now.

That’s right, no more messing around with the map. Not adding any pictures or making it look pretty. I only want to create overview in my ideas, tasks and time. Does this mean I create traditional mindmaps? Absolutely not! I just outline my thoughts and tasks.

When I finished the task, I move forward by quickly updating the map. This usually takes mere seconds. Then I move forward again.

I know this sounds like a simple technique I use. And you are absolutely right about that! It is simple, but in order to benefit from it… you have to do it.

And now we reach the point most people stop reading and click to something else. They ‘know’ this information already. I am sure they do, but do they use it?

Will you use this?

Will you benefit from having 8640 seconds instead of ‘only’ 7 minutes?

I want to hear from you if you are ready to single task your way through the day. How do you maintain your focus? How do your visual maps help you? Let me and the other people who read this know. We can all benefit from your thoughts.

Tags: advice, productivity, visual map, your life