Our brains are full no matter what we say or do—and it’s only getting worse! Quieting our brains is key to maintaining productivity. You can spend a small amount of time upfront to gain a huge payoff that comes from avoiding wasted energy, unproductive activity and costly, time-draining mistakes.
Tip 2: Be Mindful vs. Mind-full: While it may seem like the fastest way to results, multitasking has actually been proven to decrease our effectiveness. We can experience up to 50% loss in productivity and a 50% increase in error rates when we multitask.
Take control of your own thinking by:
- Quieting your mind for 5-10 minutes each day to decide what you will focus on.
- Resisting the addictive and recurring “PDA nod” that draws you to check your email every 5 minutes. If something cannot wait 90 minutes for a response, then something is wrong at a deeper level: either you’re not doing your job as a manager or your manager is not doing their job!
- Write down what you’re hearing to focus your brain on listening rather than drifting or disagreeing in your own head.
These are small, upfront investments in mindful thinking that take a minimal amount of time to do, and they really do work. Try it!