Gain Time, Focus!

Right now, this very second, right right now, I am practicing the thing I am going to talk about today. It's focus. Focus gets pushed aside in our fast paced world, where it's all about multitasking. I used to be a multi-tasker, and I was good at it, and I was proud of it. I could answer phones while checking people in and ringing up a sale and scheduling an appointment and making copies. I rocked that mess! Now, I am a focus fanatic! You see, in all of the whirlwind of activity, I rarely gave any one project my full attention, or my best. Not because I was lazy, or incompetent, but because it is impossible to give your best to 10 things at once, each thing is only getting the “best I can do under the circumstances”.

Just now, you didn't see it, of course, but just then, I stopped writing to go correct some spelling errors, even though I should just be writing and edit all at once at the end. Focus brokus.

As I was saying, when you do each project, on its own, you can give it all of your love and attention, finish it right and probably faster than you thought. The task itself can be a meditation as you take care to really notice what you are doing and immerse yourself in the experience. Even if it is “just “ washing the dishes. Feel the warm soapy water, take care to get the plates very clean, remember when you got that spoon, oh how nice it is to have so much food to eat that I have so many dishes to wash how grateful am I to know how to cook and have family to cook and eat with me how lovely the glasses look as they air dry the smell of the soap and...oh my! The dishes are done and it only took 5 minutes!

You see, when we lump several small projects into one giant combo-project, it takes us longer to complete the mass than it would to just do them one by one. Example: have you ever rented a movie and kept pausing it to do other things until the hour and forty-five minute movie feels like it is 4 hours long? Then, you re-watch it, just watching it and realize it is pretty well-paced after all.

So, today, try to do your list one at a time, instead of setting up the kids' dentist appointment while you are on your phone at the grocery store. Trust me, if you divide and conquer, you will gain time.

Just One Spaghetti at a Time