The Zen of The Single Task

Spend ten thousand hours on one task; observe a task completed by mind and hands.

Spend one hour on ten thousand tasks; mourn work never finished 

Mindfulness meditation is the practice of regular silent contemplation on a singular topic. More challenging than it appears, it requires a gentle but constant discipline to remain focused on a single thought. 

Organizations from the Mayo Clinic to Harvard to the American Psychological Association have trumpeted the benefits of this singular practice. But for many, the hurdle of spending 15 minutes alone to contemplate is a frightening prospect - With so much to do in life, would you spend time sitting without doing anything else, on purpose?

Like every professional in learning and development, you need creativity and the ability to multitask. In the morning you'll work on one task, in the afternoon another, assuming you have no interruptions.

Does this work? In the midst of e-mails phone calls, scheduled meetings and reminders, do you have the time to produce work that matters to you? If your answer is what I think it would be, the solution is simple:

Focus on one thing at a time. 

In interviews for learning and development jobs, I like to make it clear that my work pattern is weird. That I bring weird to the job. I like walking around and thinking out loud. I like a softly-lit room with a whiteboard and a marker. I don't like sitting at a desk and expecting ideas to hit.

In other words, I create by focusing on a single task, at once. Do the same for yourself, whether that means taking a five-minute walk away from your computer, or turning off e-mail notifications and putting your desk phone on silent. Mindfully focusing on one task means you'll create better, more creative results. 

How? In one or two workdays, keep a notepad with you. Hour by hour, rank your productivity. Do you feel you're accomplishing things, on a scale of 1-10?

After three days, you'll notice patterns. Maybe your time from 11-12 is least productive. Maybe you're more productive in the afternoons; find out why. What is it about those periods, either their interruptions or motivations, that makes you work better or worse? Find your triggers, and you will find what makes you better at what you do. 

Mindfulness, simply put, is recognizing things one at a time, and acting on them. Be they weaknesses or strengths, getting perspective on life and work one thing at a time means that you will still do the same amount of work, you'll just know how to do it better.

As always, I love hearing questions and comments in the comments below, or on Twitter, @LnDGuru