Assertiveness Training for Organized Living Lesson #4 - Focus Your Attention!

You have the right to focus on one task at a time.

Organizing your life does not mean adding more and more things into your life and trying to juggle them all in order to get everything done. You do not have to be a juggler to achieve organized living. In fact the opposite is true!

The Assertiveness Training Guide for Organized Living is suggesting that multitasking is actually counter productive to an organized life. Organized living is more about being able to focus on one thing at a time, without feeling like you are abdicating other responsibilities. This requires that you firstly believe in your right to give up multitasking and secondly, set priorities so that the most important things get done first.

Multitasking is a word that comes from the technology industry and was originally coined in order to describe a computer's ability to process different sets of information or commands at the same time, or what appears to be the same time. In fact the computer chip cannot process several sets of information or commands at the same time. The computer looks like it is multitasking because it switches between tasks so quickly that it appears to be doing two things simultaneously.

It turns out that the humans are also not able to process two sets of information at the same time. Trying to multitask means that the human brain must constantly switch between information sets. Humans find this emotionally draining and intellectually confusing, with the result being stress and errors.

Humans and Multitasking

Although humans have the ability to multitask and have been doing so since the beginning of time (ask any mother!) this is only advisable if the two tasks are not making demands on the same area of the brain.

This means that you might be able to load the dishwasher while coaching your child with his math homework, because loading the dishwasher is somewhat of a mindless or automatic task (ask any mother!). However, if you tried to do your taxes while helping with your child's homework, both the teacher and the taxman might be displeased!

Research has shown that trying to process two sets of information through one part of the brain increases the probability of errors.

So what does this have to do with organized living?

Since organized living is really about establishing control it becomes quite obvious that focusing on one thing at a time will allow you better control over the outcome.

Allowing yourself to focus your attention on one thing at a time will reduce errors and waste so you will actually be working more efficiently and saving time!

The Assertiveness Training Guide for Organized Living suggests the following constraining beliefs may be behind your efforts to multitask. Some positive attitude tips are offered to help you change your beliefs and assert your right to focus on one thing at a time.

The Assertiveness Training Guide for Organized Living offers the following tips for ending your multitasking habit

• Check your emails at the beginning and end of the day.


• Designate specific times during your day when you will concentrate on completing tasks and not be interrupted. This goes for both your personal and work life. During these designated blocks of time let the phone go to voicemail, but make sure to turn off the ringer so you are not distracted by it, or set it up to go automatically to the voicemail option.


• learn how to control those pesky email notifications that pop up to notify you have a new message. You can see all your new messages when you go to your email box at the designated time.


• separate from your family at the beginning of the day and rejoice in seeing each other when you all come together again. You will have so much more to talk about at dinner if you are not talking on the phone to each other during the day


• communicate the old fashioned way.....makes lists and leave notes for your family


• use your answering machine to leave messages for your family. Many telephone systems now come equipped with a "memo" function especially for this purpose.


• develop a check in system with your kids for after school so they can phone and leave a message that they are home safely...no need to pick up the phone