Someone must be trying to tell me something about focus. First I ran across the Zen Habits post from Monday, then here is something on the subject from David Allen of Getting Things Done fame. I like the idea that you can juggle several things, just make sure you give the immediate task your complete focus.
A single focus is infinitely more productive than a split one.
Commentary
Much like decreasing the diameter of a pipe will increase the strength of the water flowing out of it, the ability to think and do is optimized when focus is concentrated. Trying to focus on two things at once will diminish the results by much more than half. "Multitasking" only works when all but one of the "tasks" is on automatic, such as driving home and wondering when you got there who actually drove! Rapid refocusing (which is what really happens in knowledge-work environments âo[base "] from email to phone to interruptions, etc.) does not hinder productivity, as long as there is a clean break from one task to the next, and you are not retracing steps. Work is diminished when the focus is split, or when refocusing requires having to repeat the reframing of context and content for the next task (as in rereading sentences you've already read to find your place again).
11:09:57 AM 
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