That’s what I wrote in my journal just the other day. And than this morning Leen posted a video about how she wants to focus on multiple things, she wants to do it all.
My thoughts exactly, so there it is again: great minds really think alike ;-).
Let me share some of my thoughts on the subject and introduce my experiment that will allow me to do everything simultaneously.
It often is difficult to choose what I want to do next. I want to be able to do everything.
Focus on One thing
We have been told to focus on one thing. So when I follow this advice I often get so focused that I forget everything around me. I even forget all the other projects I wanted to work on. Until, one day something catches my eye. And that results in me remembering that I had this idea I wanted to pursue, but never did. Which brings me than again in the situation that I have to choose what to focus on.
Or do everything simultaneously?
It feels as if I am going in rounds ending up nowhere. Don’t get me wrong: if a focused action makes it possible to finish something, that is great. However all too often it isn’t about finishing a project, but about making progress. You don’t learn a programming language or write a book in a day or two. So there is that. Often it also includes more down to earth actions. Like: improving the house, doing chores, make sure you move enough, reading, creating a website, etc.
Alternating activities
So I made a decision. I am now experimenting with a solution that might fit for me. I’m going to allow myself to alternate between the various things I want to do. In order to allow progress in all of them.
I already know that keeping myself to a schedule is not my strong suit. So, I might use reward or punishment to improve my schedule following skills.
The Pomodoro technique might be a solution as well. The technique is called after the Italian word for kitchen ala in the form of a tomato. The Pomodoro technique uses 25 minutes of focused activity followed by a 5 minute pauze.
Alternatively, I might follow a more natural way, where I allow myself to do things based on feeling. In which case I need to find a way to bring the previous activity to some sort of closure. For the recurring activities it might help to create some kind of routine.
I’ll let you know how the experiment goes and if I truly do everything simultaneously. In the meantime: let me know how you deal with this – just leave a comment
Update in my ‘Do everything simultaneously’ experiment
Alternating between activities turned out to be a good fit for me. And the Pomodoro technique was a big help. I might have found another solution in the form of the Focal Point technique. More on that topic in another blog post.
