{"id":899,"date":"2011-03-12T15:45:45","date_gmt":"2011-03-12T14:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/?p=899"},"modified":"2020-10-14T10:07:37","modified_gmt":"2020-10-14T08:07:37","slug":"activity-monogamy-or-the-joys-of-doing-one-thing-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/fr\/blog\/activity-monogamy-or-the-joys-of-doing-one-thing-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Activity monogamy or, the joys of doing one thing at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

When multi-tasking leads to half-hearting, it\u2019s time to remember the old adage \u2013 less is more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a confession to make: I am a cheater. A while back, I was spending some time with Robert Ludlum and \u2013 I don\u2019t know what I was doing \u2013 I played around behind his back with\u2026 Charles Dickens. And I can\u2019t say I was thinking about Bob the whole time. I really can\u2019t. It wouldn\u2019t be so bad, but I then cheated on Charlie with Alain de Botton. And then, to add insult to injury, I added Jasper Fforde and Dan Brown to my little literary\u2026 what, erm, six people \u2013 does that make a love hexagon? Yes, I had no fewer than five books on the go at one time.<\/p>\n

Read me! Read me! Read me, now!<\/strong><\/p>\n

While I love skipping from tea with Pip and Miss Havisham to baddie-chasing with Jason Bourne, philosophising with Alain, feeding marshmallows to dodos with Thursday Next, and cracking codes with Robert Langdon, the effort of keeping up with all the characters and the plots was somewhat exhausting. I honestly don\u2019t know how bigamists and love rats do it. I actually turned reading, one of the purest and simplest of pleasures, into a source of stress. The books became obligations and things to put on my \u2018to do\u2019 list. When I picked up one to read, I was faced with the feeling of \u201cbut I\u2019ve got so much to get through, where do I start?\u201d<\/p>\n

The urge to double- or triple-up extends to most areas of my life (for my beloved, who will read this, I assure you I\u2019m talking only about activities and not beloveds \u2013 of those I\u2019ve only one). I have always been a rather enthusiastic multi-tasker. I like knowing that dinner\u2019s in the oven as the washing machine is going, and I\u2019m finishing off the ironing while also catching up on the latest shenanigans on Grey\u2019s Anatomy. It makes me feel that time is being optimised. Equally, I file emails while on the phone at work; I make lists on the tube, I return phone calls while walking home from my yoga class. In all these situations, I feel like I\u2019m making good use of what would otherwise be \u2018dead time\u2019.<\/p>\n

Fidelity feels good!<\/strong><\/p>\n

But recently, I made the decision to streamline and simplify my life, and that involved reading just one book at a time. Novel, huh? Sorry, couldn\u2019t resist that one. I forced myself to eschew all new tomes until I had finished one and, do you know what? \u2013 I loved it. I enjoyed the book I was reading so much more. I got through it faster (so I didn\u2019t lose interest) and could remember the intricacies of the plot (so I didn\u2019t spend time leafing back and trying to remember why the brass key was important and what family Lord Thingy belonged to). Most importantly, I rediscovered the joy of giving my full attention to just one thing and losing myself in it.<\/p>\n

The experiment worked so well, I\u2019m now extending it to other areas of my life. The bid to streamline, which started with unsubscribing from all those e-newsletters I regularly delete without reading and paring down my belongings, has turned into a resolution to do one thing at a time. If I\u2019m on the phone, I\u2019m on the phone. I\u2019m not sorting the darks from the lights in the washing bin or straightening out my sock drawer. If I\u2019m writing a report at work, I no longer stop every two minutes to read emails as soon as that nasty little blue envelope appears. The result? I actually enjoy each activity more, and I get things done faster and better. I\u2019m also calmer, no longer frazzled by keeping an eye on several boiling pots, and \u2013 here\u2019s the kicker \u2013 I find I have more time. The next step is obviously to cut back on the sheer number of things I try to do each day. That\u2019ll be a challenge, but worthwhile, I suspect, since it turns out less really can be more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When multi-tasking leads to half-hearting, it\u2019s time to remember the old adage \u2013 less is more. I have a confession to make: I am a cheater. A while back, I was spending some time with Robert Ludlum and \u2013 I don\u2019t know what I was doing \u2013 I played around behind his back with\u2026 Charles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[168],"tags":[237,231,186,238],"class_list":["post-899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coaching","tag-multitasking-2","tag-streamlining-2","tag-time-management-2","tag-to-do-list-2"],"yoast_head":"\nActivity monogamy or, the joys of doing one thing at a time - Joanne Archibald | Coaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joannearchibald.com\/blog\/activity-monogamy-or-the-joys-of-doing-one-thing-at-a-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Activity monogamy or, the joys of doing one thing at a time - Joanne Archibald | Coaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When multi-tasking leads to half-hearting, it\u2019s time to remember the old adage \u2013 less is more. 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