We women pride ourselves as skilled multi-taskers. But although are we often multitasking for one clear goal or are we trying to achieve success in too many areas at once. When does multitasking become distraction ⎯ and risk undermining our goals.
Staying focused is a daily (sometimes hourly) battle for a woman eager to succeed. Why? These are the four main culprits and what you can do to deal with them.
Our brilliant minds
We can’t help it; we regularly come up with great ideas we want to implement INSTANTLY. We therefore need to ask ourselves ⎯ wait, is this going to take me further to reaching my ultimate goal? Or do I not have the time to take this on in addition to my current workload
If you are prone to come up with ideas all time, get yourself an “ideas journal” and write it down. Getting it out of your head and giving it time to review will prevent impulsive behavior and distraction.
Have an advisory or sounding board, or a mentor, you can quickly run the idea past and see what they think. An objective opinion by someone who cares is valuable in times like this.
FOMO (fear of missing out) in Multitasking
This is one of the worst feelings someone can have in business. The (unjustified and unrealistic) fear of missing out. This happens when you take your eye of the prize. You start obsessing over what you are NOT doing and looking at what others are doing instead of staying focused on your goal.
If you find yourself suffering from this, make sure you have a vision board that you can view on a daily basis. Keep you focused on your ultimate goal.
Take down (or tick off) every time you succeed in something. Give yourself a pat on the back for succeeding.
Don’t hang around or pay attention to competitors or other people that you find yourself comparing your successes with.
Social Media Multitasking
This can be one of the most strategic marketing tools you can use or be the biggest energy-sucking time-waster to enter your life and send you down a rabbit hole of wasted hours. Social media can lure you into a false sense of productivity, before you know it, it is three hours past your bedtime! (grrrr Pinterest) or just three minutes before your next deadline.
You need to be very strategic when using social media. Limit your time on your channels. Every time you go to “check” your accounts, ask yourself why. Is it for personal interest browsing or is it a genuine business activity? Be honest and own it.
Guilt
We have mentioned the negative power of guilt before. It is a wasted emotion and often circling the mind of the multitasking ambitious woman. Every second we focus on our own agenda, our own success, we unjustifiably feel guilty that we said no to a friend, to family or to a charity as we don’t have the time they demand.
Guilt is not the approach to take if you want to succeed. You need to make a decision for the day, week, or event/situation and stick with it. Working while feeling guilty will mean nobody gains.
Whether you are being distracted by one or more of the above – remember that allowing yourself to be distracted means you are taking away effort from achieving your ultimate success.
