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Single-Tasking

• Posted by Theresa on May 31st, 2006 filed in Excellence, Goals, Choices

Thom Quinn from the QLog breaks down how to do what I called Single-Tasking and he calls Serial Tasking.

His challenge - Try it for thirty days and see how much more you will accomplish.

My challenge - Try it to see how much stress you remove from your life by focusing on one thing at a time.

The Serial Tasking Rules

1) Before doing anything else, write down a list of all your ‘to dos’ for the day. Include on this list even small items such as checking voice mail, reading email, etc.

2) Review that list and rank all your tasks from the highest priority to lowest priority.

3) If all other things are equal and you have two items on your list that have an equal priority, put the one you dislike first and the more enjoyable activity after it.

4) Start your most important task. Do not stop working on it, especially for minor interruptions like coffee breaks, phone calls, or social visits. The key is to focus only on that one task. If it is possible to do so, complete it before starting anything else on the list. If there is a constraint, focus on this task until you have taken it as far as humanly possible before moving to the next task.

5) Repeat Rule 4 with the very next important task.

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