Focus Instead of Multi-Tasking All the Time

There’s a commonly believed myth that multi-tasking creates efficiency. Of course, in some cases, it is absolutely necessary. I’ve had plenty of days when I was running errands or cooking while handling business and days when my kids were playing and I was checking emails. Have you ever been on a conference call with a client, responding to e-mails, and creating a to-do list all at once? That used to be my everyday norm. However, I’ve learned the power of being present in whatever I am doing.

One thing that really helped me was to simply get organized. I developed systems (SYSTEM: Save Yourself Stress, Time, Energy & Money!) that kept me on track and saved me tons of time.

If you’re anything like me, you would love to get back four hours per day. Between work, family, and everything else you have going on, managing your time should be a very high priority.

So what the heck is time management anyway? Time management is determining what you need to accomplish, when the task needs to be completed, and how you will finish it on time. The most effective time-management strategy I’ve implemented is not checking my email when I first arrive in the office. I know it sounds very simple, but it has made all the difference in the world. Before, I would get to the office in the mornings, check email, post to social media, and look up and see it was lunchtime. I hadn’t accomplished any of the things I set out to do. Does that sound familiar?

Now, my day looks like this. I start the morning by creating my to-do list using “The Magic Power of Three,” which simply means I write down the three most important things for me to accomplish that day. Three tasks may not sound like a lot, but that small number provides a very realistic measure of what you can accomplish during the day.

I prioritize my tasks and write down exactly what I need to do to accomplish them. Next, I scan my email for five minutes to see if there’s something that I need to respond to immediately. If not, I close my email and begin working on my tasks.
I schedule in time to go through and respond to email messages after lunch, and I give myself a time limit for email and social media to ensure I can finish the three tasks that I scheduled for the day.

This one simple shift in how I structure my day has helped me to be at least 35% more productive each day and reclaim my morning time to focus on completing my top three projects for the day. The most important four hours in my day, 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., are strictly dedicated to ensuring that I invest the time required to properly grow my business and increase revenues.

Business Lifestyle Strategist T. Reneé Smith started her first business at age nineteen, on credit, with no business experience and no plan. She built a successful enterprise, but later went from driving a Mercedes and living in an 8,000 square foot home to being served with lawsuits and filing bankruptcy. Now a reformed people pleaser, ex-perfectionist, and recovered workaholic, T. Reneé empowers busy women to fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams by creating a business that provides them with more success, money, and time.