At its roots, Microsoft is a single-tasking company, and the task is computing. Beyond the roots, things get complicated. The company produces hundreds of products, provides continuing support for multiple releases of each product, and involves itself in dozens of industries in order to provide targeted software for those industries.
That multitasking approach trickles down. The team I'm working for at Microsoft is responsible for three key products and a number of smaller ones. Several releases of these products are planned, developed, and supported simultaneously. As a tech writer, I am involved in all three phases for most of them: I review and contribute to specifications, I write documentation to be included with new releases, and I write materials to help existing customers.
In addition, the environment here is one of fast-moving collaboration. Everybody is juggling multiple projects and multiple responsibilities for those projects, which means not a day goes by without someone being in urgent need of information or a deliverable that only one or two people on the team can provide. Meeting those urgent needs is part of what one signs on for when one works here. You stop what you are doing and respond.
With multitasking at the core of my professional life, and with my professional life taking up such a large percentage of my whole life, it can be a real challenge to make a shift to a more focused approach. But every instinct I possess is telling me that's what I need. That's why I was drawn to meditation and enjoy it so much. That's why I'm researching ways to slow down, simplify, get clear, focus, and do one thing at a time.
Doing one thing at a time... Funny that something so simple would be something I have to research, something I have to work at and practice. But it's a big change; I've been striving for "maximum efficiency" for a lot of years now.
Small example: Eating. Do you know how often I sit down to a meal without doing something else while I eat? Maybe twice a week. The other day, Chloe fixed dinner and set the table and got us all to sit down and eat together. Day before yesterday, I ate my lunch salad without checking email or surfing the 'net while I ate.
That's it. But each of those meals counted for SO much in terms of how I felt about my day and myself. It felt like I chose the proper prioritization for once. (And that I would tack "for once" on there is both accurate and disturbing.)
Those meals and moments also made me greedy for more. I want more one-thing-at-a-time moments. I want more chances to give focused attention to what's in front of me.
I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that while I was writing this blog post I did nothing but write this blog post. And, miracle of miracles, I experienced no interruptions while I did it.
If you want to read more about single-tasking, try these:
http://zenhabits.net/start/
http://zenhabits.net/light-life/
http://mnmlist.com/distractions/
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/05/27/the-4-taoist-secrets-to-doing-less-and-getting-more-done/
http://doingless.net/
1 comments:
hmm... i might be able to multi task less if you'd quit writing and sharing so many good links that make me want to fit reading them into my already limited time, so i read-while-eating or working a lot. ;)
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