Robert Mallon

A few days ago, I was having a conversation with a very good friend of mine named Bill Watkins.  There are several very neat things happening to him right now.  His life is exciting, interesting, and full of fun.  He’s also been through some very tough times over the last several years.

At a certain point in the conversation he said this,

“You know, it just seems like when one door shuts, another “better“ door opens.”

Better!!!

I’ve heard the first part of that quote often, but have never heard it with the word “better” used in it.  But that’s what he said.

And that’s the point . . .  Continue reading…

So you think that “Multitasking” is a good thing.

I’m reading a book right now called “Crazy Busy” by a man named Edward M. Hallowell, M.D.  A very interesting read!

One of the chapters is called, “The Myth and Reality of Multitasking.”  In the chapter, he says this, “Multitasking refers to a mythical activity in which people believe they can perform two or more tasks simultaneously as effectively as one.”

To appreciate how faulty that notion is, Dr. Hallowell goes on to describe how we play tennis.

“Imagine you’re playing tennis.  You hit the ball and immediately get ready to make your best shot.  You focus single mindedly on the ball; the better the player you are, the more focused you become.  You put all your energy, experience, instinct, and thought into each shot as well as the shot you pan to hit next.

Now imagine playing tennis with two balls.  You have to keep track of both, running each down, watching our opponent do the same, as you frantically try to keep two balls in play at once.  There is no way your game with two balls could be as good as your game with one. 

Multitasking is like playing tennis with two balls, or three, or four.”

What a great visual as to why multitasking doesn’t work.

We tend to focus on too much which causes confusion.  Allow me to give you a practical solution to this problem.

Several years ago, I was struggling with this exact problem.  The problem was that my desk was full.  I mean FULL!  I had several stacks on it, a stapler, a three-hole punch, my computer, a printer, a phone, a box of Kleenex, a cup that hold pencils and pens—you get the picture.

Let’s say I was working on a project.  I’d have the papers of the project right in front of me.  The problem was that I had three or four other projects that I was going to work on that day on top of the desk also.

As I’m focused on the one current project that I was working on, the other projects would be whispering to me,

“Hey Robert!!!  What about me???  Did you forget about ME?????

Each stack would be vying for my attention.  What would invariably happen would be that I would push the current stack away and begin working on one of the other stacks.

The problem?  I hadn’t finished the original stack!

All day long, I felt like I was pushing piles around.  But I wasn’t completing anything!  Sound familiar?

So what was the solution?

Here’s what I did.  First, I took everything off my desk.  I mean everything!  All I have on my desk now is my laptop, my phone, and whatever I’m working on at the present moment.  Everything else is on a credenza behind my line of sight.

I now use my desk drawers for pens, pencils, paperclips, scotch tape holders, staplers, etc.  You get the picture.  MY DESKTOP IS CLEAN!!!

So imagine that I’m working on whatever it is that I’m working on.  I have to CONSCIOUSLY make the decision to pick up whatever that is, move it to the credenza, and then pick up a NEW thing that I’m going to be working on.  Obviously, the key word there is “consciously.”  Until I consciously make the decision to change what I’m working on, I don’t switch.

What this causes is for me to stay on task—One task at a time!  That’s the key.

There are no other stacks or projects whispering my name.  They’re out of sight, and thankfully out of mind.

In essence, I’m throwing all the “tennis balls” off of the court of my desk.

Try it and see what happens!!!

On a recent afternoon, I was at the gym working out.  Between sets, I was sitting on a bench resting, and I saw one of the head guys that works there close by.

As he was walking, he was stopping, taking weights off of machines, and putting them back on the racks where they belonged.  He was also stooping down picking up weights that others had left on the floor.  In addition, he was re-organizing the weights by size—5’s, 10’s, 25’s, 45’s, etc.

I was thinking, “What a pain that he has to do this.  If people were just a little more considerate, they’d put the weights back where they belonged and he wouldn’t have to do this ‘menial’ work.

He looked over at me and smiled.  I asked him, “How are you doing today?”

“BLESSED!!!” he said!  “I’ve got a great job where I get to serve people.  It’s a glorious day!”

“That’s awesome!” I told him.

And I sat there and thought . . .  “This guy is always in a good mood.  He’s always walking around with a smile on his face.  He Continue reading…