Minute With Mallon: Focus Hack: One Thing Only!
Welcome to Minute with Mallon!
Happy Birthday to Me! 🎂 Yep, todays my birthday!! And BTW, this celebrates the start of the second year of the newsletter!!! As we embark on our second year together, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you for being a part of this journey. As we continue to grow and evolve, I invite you to share this newsletter with at least one person who you believe would benefit from its insights and content. Your support and referrals are greatly appreciated!
Something I Taught:
I was working with a client recently who complained that he often got sidetracked while doing work at his desk. He actually showed me his desk and it was filled with different stacks of paper. This was causing him to lose focus of what he was currently working on, instead stopping and starting projects over and over, which meant every project took longer than it should to complete.
Back in the 90's I experienced the same thing and found a solution that may help you too!
Someone once told me to clear my desk completely (except for things like stapler, calculator, computer, etc.) and to have only one project on your desk at a time. This would be the thing that I was currently working on.
So I did! I had a side table out of my field of vision where I put everything relating to every project other than the one I was working on right at that moment.
Once I had finished working on that project, I had to consciously take it OFF my desk and replace it with the new thing. It made all the difference!
When you have multiple things on your desk, inevitably the ones that you aren't working on begin calling your name.
Hey Robert! What about me????? Over here… over here! 🙋🏻♂️
And you get distracted! They begin screaming for your attention, so you think, "Well, I'll just spend a minute or two working on that one."
Wrong!
Now the one you were working on is being ignored. And your attention is being split between the two… or three… or four different tasks.
Or as Kim Stolz said,
"Multitasking is a lie. We think we're getting more done, but it's an illusion. We're just getting more stressed."
By the way, here's the goal we set to help my client turn this into a habit:
Through June, I am staying focused on One Thing at a time until completion by only having the one thing I’m currently working on my desk, so that I don’t get lost in all the stuff and so that I feel the great feeling of completion.
Try it! I'm sure this will work for you too! And most importantly, make it a habit!
Something to Ponder:
We will never know all the good that a simple smile can do.
Mother Teresa
Something I Learned:
I learned a really good and easy delegation tip in the book The Effective Manager by Mark Horstman.
There are four simple steps to take when delegating. I'm only going to go through Step one. From the book:
State your desire for help. "Sarah, I'd like your help." It's that easy. Think about that. If your boss asked for help, would you say yes, without needing to know any details? 90% say that they would.
We don't recommend that you say, "Sarah, I need your help." In this case, directs heard "need" and thought that they didn't have a choice but to say yes when asked to take on a new responsibility.
I think you'll agree that this little tweak can make a real difference!
Try it next time you're delegating to someone! Practice makes permanent!!!
Something I Saw:
Niedlov’s Bakery & Cafe - Chattanooga!
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Hope you have an incredible week!
Robert
