do one thing

Not surprisingly, the topic of productivity came up at work today. During the discussion our manager said his motto is “do one thing”. This really struck a cord in me and I feel like this could be a theme I need to adopt for my everyday life. The point of “do one thing” is to not literally do one thing and then take the rest of the day off, but to be sure that no matter what else comes up or gets thrown at you that you keep coming back to that one thing until it’s done. Then, you focus in on the next item. Rinse. Repeat.

I like this since some of my home productivity issues are due to a spot it and do it mentality. I may have my list of things to get done, but if I walk into the bedroom and see a glass that needs to go in the kitchen I’ll pick it up and take it down. There I see the dishes need washed so I’ll do that, oh and then I need to take those dirty dishtowels up to the laundry and start those in the wash, but I get sidetracked by the shoes that need to go in the closet. My afternoon of cleaning becomes an unproductive hodge podge of half done activities. Yes, those things did need to be done, but they either weren’t priority or were done halfway cause I flaked out half way through to start something else.

Do One Thing

This may be my new motto…