I’ve been a “multi-tasker” for many years. Always thought I could do at least a couple things well and sometimes more. After all, I’m a woman, and reading all those women’s magazines pretty much SAID that women (sorry guys, your specialty has tended to be more linear)  were great at doing several things at once.

To be fair, I believed I was pretty great at doing  several things at once when it concerned things that didn’t need total focus – like fixing dinner, responding to my small kids when it was too quiet – or too noisy, talking on the phone, doing picking up of clutter before Dad came home for dinner. That sort of half-attentive attention  was pretty easy.

I guess that type of split attention was “good enough” during that time with the proof beingthat all those dinners got made and my children did survive into adulthood. Whew!

But after that? I believed that I could have several careers simultaneously and do OK, in addition to the running of a household, etc. I had heard that more and more studies had been done about the stress levels of people involved in such frenetic behavior, but I just didn’t see how it applied to ME. Ha!

The last several years I worked really, really hard in several directions. None of them brought much fruit so my logical solution was to think that maybe I just had the wrong things, or I just needed to add more options.  I found that my over-heated brain got so crispy internally, that I turned to  TV and spending unproductive time on the computer to cope.  Not a good solution and I watched as that habit  further reduced the results I was wanting (or what I thought I was wanting).

So, what changed? Since I’ve taken the Tony Robbins course, I have learned that looking carefully at what’s been holding me back included taking a look at how I spent my time and how many things was I trying to do at once.  The stress of feeling constantly overwhelmed kept me anxious and far from peaceful.  In fact,  I recently took on another part time work, believing it would somehow provide quick cash.  What it did do was cause even more distraction from what I really want to do and really brought things to a head. Something had to give.

Part of my New Years resolution involved officially putting my Real Estate License in the inactive state.  I can still reactivate it with minimal fuss and expense if I do so within two years should I wish to do that.

I also quit this other project today and found that by doing so,  there was an intense sense of relief and clarity. My stress levels and anxiety have decreased a lot while at the same time, there is an increase in my ability to focus and manage my time better.

Am I saying that if you are experiencing anxiety and stress that you are multi-tasking? No, but I am saying that slowing down and really figuring out your values for the long term might help make your life simpler.

If you’re noticing that you have lots of things on a very small plate in your life,  try to cut back on the least important things.  There is a great book called  “First Things First” by Stephen Covey. It’s a great way to look at time management in the light of deciding what’s important and doing those things FIRST.  There will always be little stuff – and one of the great secrets is that the “to do list” will NEVER be completed.  There is always something to add to it and we don’t wish to get to the end of our lives not having done some of the important things we value most.

What is your experience with your work and life loads? What’s changed in the last few years? Leave me a comment!

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