If you feel like your mind is running all over the place, then I have a solution for you.
I was taught that I could multi-task. There is a never ending echo in society that asks us to do more, be more, post more, respond more, be more accessible, and while all of this has its pros and cons, there's not a ton of content on how to manage this new demand and stay sane.
We are all juggling thousands of things a day. People nagging for our attention. Phones constantly dinging, chirping, vibrating... creating anxiety every minute. I am not trying to stop us from progressing or embracing technology, but I am trying to help people navigate it better.
A couple years ago I found myself stressed, overwhelmed, and anxious. I didn't even really know what any of that was. I just kept pushing harder and harder and eventually I broke down. I quickly realized that my mind could not really focus on one thing at a time. I had trained it to try and multitask (which is not possible) ... its basically multi-distracted... and found that I could barely do one thing at a time.
If I was brushing my teeth, I was also trying to put on my pants.
If I was checking email, I was also picking up my phone and responding to texts as they came in. If I was watching something on Netflix, I was also scrolling down Instagram while also talking to my wife. Nothing was getting my full attention and my mind never shut off.
I was always scanning for the next thing to do, check off my list. You see, I love efficiency. I love making things work smoother, better, faster. I have a gift in it actually. I can accomplish a lot and refine a lot of processes that people have to help them achieve more. I have learned this over the years. While this is helpful to a lot of people, it can become a bad thing if you begin to lose the ability to focus on one thing at a time.
The solution for me was to memorize and burn into my brain this motto.
"One thing at a time, one thing at a time, one thing at a time".
This little reminder has changed my life. It easily reduced my stress, anxiety, and tornado of thoughts that were constantly going on in my head.
It's simple. What you do is throughout your day you just keep telling yourself to do "One thing at a time". In your day you begin to be aware of how often you may be on the way to do something only to get distracted by another thing and all of a sudden you're on a totally different path and brainwave.
You may be going the bathroom and normally you take out your phone... don't do that. It's a simple one to start. Most people I know spend so much time in the bathroom now on their phones just aimless scrolling filling their head up with so much nonsense, totally derailing them from any sort of focus to what they were doing or going to do. It all impacts you.
An easy way to apply this is to write out your day. Document every hour and just go down the list. During that day, just write the motto on a post it note, make it your background, whatever you have to do.. just make it say "One thing at a time".
If you feel like your head is always jumping and dancing around with thoughts and you can't focus on one thing then you need to do this. You can only handle so much in life and you can't multi-task. It's literally not possible as your attention will be spread too thin and you will do things so so.
I can testify by practicing this motto and approach to life, you find yourself more focus. Your mind begins to feel calm and still. Your conversations are more focused and interesting. Your work gets better and done faster. You begin to take back your time and begin to respect yourself more. You begin to realize that life doesn't have to be exhausting, stressful, full of anxiety and always feeling like you're one step behind or missing out. This takes time, this takes practice but something so simple has had such a huge impact in my life that I wanted to share it with everyone.
So today... just try to do one thing at at time. Wake up, don't look at your phone, get ready for your day, eat, like just eat, don't scroll through your phone, go about your work and focus on each task. Don't work, check email, check phone, work etc.. do one thing at a time and see how your mind becomes more still, your clarity improves and your efficiency actually goes all the way up.
Peace
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