I have been working some insane hours lately and I'm just exhausted. The worst part of it is that it doesn't feel like I'm making any progress anywhere. I even started a Weekend Kanban just so I could stay somewhat sane on the weekends with my personal life and household chores.
Last weekend, I found this article, What multitasking does to our brains and I decided I would give this single-tasking a try. This post is to share the results from my first week.
First, I had to decide what my "key changes" were going to be so I settled on:
- Block out time on my calendar for tasks
- Do work in 90-minute increments
- Disconnect from distractions: Close out of Outlook and Communicator, turn the ringer/vibration off my phone
- Celebrate & reset: Finish a task, take a break, and change locations
Block out time on my calendar
I had a discussion with some of my colleagues a few weeks ago and know some of them like to block time on their calendars for work-time but I've traditionally liked to keep it clear. I have a task list and I usually just work my way down it. Recently, however, I've had to block out little chunks of time to remind myself to print materials for meetings because I get so caught up that I forget and then run late. If nothing else, those reminders served as interruptions so I could work right up until I absolutely had to get ready. Since I'd already bastardized my calendar, I thought it would hurt to try scheduling the rest of my work time, too.
What I've learned so far: Blocking out the calendar works but only if I stick to it. I came back to my desk from lunch one day and let myself get distracted by email and ad hoc requests. I didn't honor my appointment, didn't get to the work item until after I got home, and ended up working until 11pm. I also found that I could really only block out time on my calendar and stick to it about once a day, in the mornings. By the time the afternoons came around, there'd be a slew of action items that I'd have to deal with and could never get back to my work-time appointments.
Do work in 90-minute increments
90 minutes seemed like a long time. Sometimes, I have busy work that doesn't take 90 minutes but what I've realized is that most of the work I don't get done is the "thinking work." It requires a certain amount of down-time--to settle in and relax and let the creative juices flow.
What I've learned so far: Finding 90-minute increments between meetings is challenging. I couldn't really test this out this week because my days have been mostly packed with meetings with a few 30-minute windows. Turns out, I could at least knock out a few small tasks. It felt a lot better to slot a small task in and get it done rather than try to get 30-minutes of a 2-hour effort done--regardless of its priority. Progress is king.
Disconnect from distractions: Close out of Outlook and Communicator
Oh, to be disconnected. This was a scary one for me. I had resigned myself to closing out of messenger services but when my colleague suggested that I close out of Outlook, too, I was horrified. How could I possibly? But I knew she was right. Incoming emails are interruptions to my concentration all the same.
What I've learned: Closing out of Outlook wasn't really feasible for me. Sometimes, I needed to refer to emails--even if I didn't want the incoming ones, I still needed the ones I had already gotten. "Working Offline" was my solution. I'd leave Outlook open but go offline. I'd come up for air between "sessions" and log back into Outlook and Communicator. It also helped to let people know about my experiment--like my boss--so they didn't wonder why I never seemed to be online.
Disconnect from distractions: Turn the ringer/vibrate off my phone
Phones are distracting. There have been times in the past that I've turned off my phone so I could concentrate on work so this wasn't a far stretch for me. Besides, I'd get reminders on my desktop and then get reminders on my phone which was not only redundant, but also twice as distracting.
What I've learned: It was nice to schedule times to check-in with my phone when I came up for air. I did run into one issue. I had a meeting with a colleague who didn't have access to my building. He texted me and waited 10 minutes before I finally saw it. If I'm going to be disconnected, I need to know when I need to be connected.
Celebrate & reset: Finish a task, take a break, and change locations
Accomplishing something always deserves a celebration and a break. That part is a no-brainer but the article noted that changing physical locations helped with single-tasking. It was probably the most compelling and interesting suggestion in the article and the one that made me want to try it.
What I've learned: I didn't do it. I got so comfortable at my desk with everything right where I need it that changing locations would require me to pack up my stuff and find a new place to squat. That's precious time! But what I also found is that if I took a break and then came back to the same place, I just settled in and got distracted by the same 'ole, same 'ole. I also found that when I finished small tasks, I would just move on to the next task, rather than taking a small break. I need to work on this one a little more.
Other lessons learned:
- Come up for air in 30-minute increments to check emails, keep a pulse on things, and let folks you're still alive.
- Keep a notepad nearby for when you're feeling a little ADD so you can write down things you remember or things you have to do that aren't directly related to the task-at-hand.
- Switch to decaf. You're less anxious about everything that way.
So far, I've found that I've been productive when I can stick with the plan. This wasn't the best week to try it out but I'm not ready to give up on this approach just yet. This upcoming week looks a little more promising so I'll have to write an update next week.
Now, back to work.
-Ann
