Preview March 2019 Membership

By Joeann Fossland 

You know the feeling: you’re busy in your business, you’re a spouse, parent, a caregiver to your parent, and/or a volunteer in your community. The only way to get it all done seems to be to sort mail while talking on the phone, send e-mail on your mobile while sitting in a meeting, help with homework while designing your next marketing piece. “Multitasking “seems the only way to keep juggling and to get it all done. Sound familiar? 

Did you know that multi-tasking is a myth? The reason is that the reticular activating system in your brain can only attend to one event at a time. This means that rather than multitasking, what you are actually doing is rapidly shifting back and forth between tasks. 

According to Michael Harris, 

When we think we're multitasking we're actually multi-switching. That is what the brain is very good at doing - quickly diverting its attention from one place to the next. We think we're being productive. We are, indeed, being busy. But in reality we're simply giving ourselves extra work.

Ryder Carroll in the book, The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future observes that: 

Inevitably we find ourselves tackling too many things at the same time, spreading our focus so thin that nothing gets the attention it deserves. This is commonly referred to as "being busy." Being busy, however, is not the same thing as being productive. 

Research has shown that the human brain performs very poorly while attempting to multitask. A study cited in the Harvard Business Review, (3 Norwegian researchers featured in the Harvard Business Review) found that both sexes performed equally badly when they attempted to multitask. For both men and women, multi-tasking resulted in dramatically reduced accuracy and slower mental processing speed. In fact, claims that multitasking can be used by some people as a means to increase productivity have been completely debunked. 

The Dangers of Consistent Multitasking

In his book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Cal Newport declares that the habits of modern professionals such as checking email at all hours, rushing from meeting to meeting, and valuing multitasking above all else, only stand in the way of truly valuable work. H warns, 

Spend enough time in a state of frenetic shallowness and you permanently reduce your capacity to perform deep work. 

Adam Grant, Wharton management professor and the author of Give and Take and Originals, goes on to say, 

There are so many people trying to figure out how to do not just more work but better work, because we live in a world dominated by distraction. One of the things we know from nearly a century of research is that people are not good at parallel processing. They are good at serial processing. And where people never really fully engage, it’s hard to get a lot of work done. Newport has done a terrific job of highlighting how intense focus gets better results both in terms of quality and quantity. 

The growing body of scientific studies suggests multitasking is inefficient and will, in the end, take more of your time and will impact the quality your results as well as your physical wellbeing. Doing several things at once robs your brain of the opportunity to do one thing well before moving to the next.

Attempting to do more than one activity at a time diminishes your focus. To illustrate this point, in a study by Carnegie Mellon University, subjects were asked to listen to sentences while comparing two rotating objects. 

The study found the resources available for the brain to pay attention visually dropped 29 percent and the listening portion of the brain’s activation centers dropped by 53 percent. So, sorting your junk mail while talking with a client may result in throwing something away you should have kept or missing a clue to something amiss with the client!

The Solution? Set Up “Deep Work” Practices
Newport suggests that to keep your focus high and to achieve maximum productivity set up “deep work practices” that include setting boundaries that minimize interruptions and maximize focus. Steps to take include:

• Turn off your phone and notifications.
• Do your deep work at a time when others won’t interrupt you.
• Close your office door or go somewhere like Starbucks where you can work without being interrupted by others. 

Reduce Your Stress 
Another reason to rethink your multitasking relates to the stress it creates internally. Stress has health repercussions and continued stress can lead to serious illness. You can consciously reduce your multi-tasking by noticing it and then taking any of these steps. 

• Meditation quiets the external chatter and allows you to increase your focus.
• Engage in mindfulness. Instead of rushing through your daily activities, practice mindfulness by experiencing each moment as fully as possible. The result is increased satisfaction and awareness.
• Be truly present and listen in a deeper way to each person you come in contact. This improves communication and strengthens
• To accomplish more, avoid Close the door to your office, turn off your social media notifications, and let your phone go to voicemail if you want to be more effective. The result is you will actually take less time to accomplish your tasks. 

If you want to be more successful in 2019, take a look at where this affects the way you work. Then, the next time you get the urge to multi-task, start to create a new habit: challenge yourself to stop and give each task your full attention. Remember, focus on achieving only one thing at a time to achieve most efficient and effective results!

by Byron Van Arsdale, Co-owner, RealEstateCoach.com 

As you gear up for 2019, one of the greatest challenges leader faces is how to navigate situations where there is no closure. This can include unexpected losses of loved ones, business or personal betrayals, or a host of other issues. What makes it doubly difficult for you as a leader is that you must not only handle your own situations, but often those of your agents and staff as well. 

What It Takes to Move on without Closure

Moving on without closure is challenging. Webster defines closure as being, “a bringing to an end; conclusion.” 

The biggest obstacle in this process is releasing the energy currently tied up in coping with tragedy that is being experienced and redirecting that energy into getting one’s life back on track. To move forward, here are ten simple steps to follow. 

1. Start Small

Completing projects (small or large) not only releases energy, it provides you with a sense of moving forward again. This is turn eliminates many of the feelings of confusion that you may have. us with a growing sense of clarity, thus eliminating the feeling of the confusion. 

Consequently, it’s smart to begin with something simple. There’s an old saying, that  “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch. Yard by yard, life is hard.” 

For example, when one of your agents is struggling with their production and nothing seems to be working, ask that agent to call one of their favorite clients who are always happy to hear from them. By making that first call, they are in action. It also makes it easier to do a second call or another simple or easy task. 

2. Handle small things that have been irritating or bugging you

Small, seemingly inconsequential things drain far more energy than you might imagine. Set aside part of each day to handle these small items. Failure to handle these small items is akin to a paper cut. One of them is annoying, but when you have ten or more, it drains you tremendously. 

3. Use your cookie jar!

For things around the house that need to be repaired or replaced, here’s another suggestion. Get a wide mouth cookie jar. Next, when you discover small things that need to be done around the house, stop and write them on a slip of paper. Deposit them in the cookie jar. When you have a few extra moments, pull out one slip of paper at a time and handle what’s on the slip immediately. By the way, make sure these are tasks such as “replacing a light bulb,” not “painting the house.” 

4. Start telling those close to you just how much they mean to you.

Expressing love, affection, gratitude, compassion, etc. are healing in both the short and long term. Remember, holding back your emotions is much like the energy required to hold water behind a dam. When it’s channeled properly, it can produce positive energy. On the other hand, if the dam breaks, the “flood” that occurs can be devastating.   

5. Declare closure for this moment – revisit the issue later

You can declare closure on anything, yet the suggestion here is not to create a wall of denial. Rather, declare whatever it is "done for the time being" with the specific intention of revisiting the issue later. Set a date to revisit the issue and put it aside until that date. 

6. Focus on what IS working in your life

Do you know someone who whines constantly about everything that is wrong in their life? A great way to derail their whine is to ask, 

What is one thing that is going right in your life? 

If they can’t come up with anything, you might remind them that their car got them to work today, they slept in a warm bed last night, they have money for food, their cell phone is working—you get the idea. 

7. Work on what you do know

Let go of trying to control all the unknowns in your life and spend you energy working on those things that you DO have some control over. TV news stations have the specific intention to expand their ratings and will present news in a way that keeps you focused on all the things over which you lack control. Also keep in mind this old newsroom adage—“If it bleeds, it leads.” These events only contribute to the challenges you’re facing—avoid them! 

8. Make it OK to not know why something happened

We love answers and sometimes this can work against us. For example, we find it difficult to understand how someone could walk into a school and shoot innocent children. Focusing on irrational acts diverts your energy away from what you can handle in your own life. Concentrate on what you can do, and let the rest go, no matter how difficult that may be. 

9. Cry often

If you’re experiencing loss or pain, don’t be afraid to cry. Denying or pressing down your emotions only creates bigger problems in the future to be resolved. Besides, crying is a great way to release  pent up energy. 

Getting angry also releases energy, but often in an unhealthy way. When you dump your angry energy on others, you only add to their anger, confusion, and turmoil. If you can't cry, pound on a pillow, punching bag, or do something else physical to release the pent up energy in a positive way. 

10. Smile and express gratitude and appreciation often

When you experience a profound loss, it can make you numb. One of the best ways to break through that numbness is to smile or laugh. When you smile, you release endorphins tied to positive emotion. Smiles and laughter actually counteract grief and loss because your brain can only process one emotion at a time. 

There are many other strategies to help you move on. The MOST important thing to remember is that it is the action you take and not the strategy that you choose.