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People often complain that they cannot get their things done on time. People say many reasons for this; they say that they are either stressed, overwhelmed or just not interested in what they do. I am pretty sure that you know at least a few people who keep on pushing their work to the future. Have you ever thought of the underlying core-reasons why most people are not able to even meet their timelines in their life or workplace? Are we wired that way? We will try to answer this question by examining one of the root causes of this problem.

As you already know, people often come up with seemingly complicated and elaborate reasons for their delays. However, at the core, the only reason I can think of is- “multitasking”. Yes!, multitasking is over-rated. I have seen people who believe that they can do multitasking efficiently to complete their multiple jobs simultaneously! Obviously, all of us do many things at a time; thinking of our family matters while preparing a blog post, or sorting a ‘to-do’ list while talking to others, or worrying about our supervisor’s reaction while making a presentation for him, and the list goes on! Do you know that when you divide and distribute your attention this way for multiple tasks, you can’t have enough concentration needed for each job at your hand? And, finally, you end up with a great deal of frustration and disappointment. If you are taught to do multitasking, that’s the worst ‘skill’ you have ever learned. It is going to plateau your potential sooner or later.

Why are we accustomed to multitasking in the first place? There is a biological reason why we tend to do multitasking. Multitasking pushes our brain’s instinct to stimulate all of our senses, and our mind wants to keep this stimulation as such! That is because we all want to be stimulated. This type of stimulus was an evolutionary advantage for our ancestors, but not for the modern world. Our ancestors must have developed this type of instinct due to their fear of dangers. By stimulating their senses and dividing their attention to various surroundings, they were always alert, looking for potential threats and hazards. This ensured safe navigation for their survival. After millions of years, our brain refined and installed this multitasking-mode as an essential add-on for our mind. However, today this ad-on is obsolete, and definitely needs an uninstallation. In the modern world, such an evolutionary tendency takes us nowhere except annoyance and dissatisfaction at life. But, how to unlearn this primitive skill and train your brain to adapt to today’s needs? The mantra is simple; ‘do one thing at a time’. Doing only one thing at a time guarantees excellent results beyond any doubts! At first, you may think that it’s going to consume plenty of your time to finish your tasks, but with this mantra, you are actually going to experience unparallel satisfaction from every task you do. Wake up! It’s the time to let go of everything else, other than your single task at hand. This lets life to happen in a most effortless manner ever possible! It’s going to serve plenty of opportunities to appreciate and feel your inner wisdom. Another article given here can help you to understand this concept in simple terms. But, how to practically implement this mantra in your life? Those tips are saved for another day! 🙂

As Gary W. Keller said, “Success is built sequentially. It’s one thing at a time.”