The best business advice I ever received was as a one-year-old in my house here in Scotland. What I didn't realize at the time was that I would figure this out early on in life, know it for a few months, and then completely wipe it out of memory to make life harder.
As young as one-year-old, we are taught and guided to take one step. Just one little step to get walking and start our journey into life—our parents assisting and gleefully cheering as we master the art of walking.
Then it’s two steps, then three—it’s never three at first. And we're always encouraged by our parents to take the next step next.
As we approach adolescence, we become distracted—and I’m not talking about smartphones or social media or the constant notifications, which don’t help the process. I'm talking about this almost busy badge-earning word that has become almost accredited in modern society: multitasking.
It's time we stopped multitasking—as humans and business owners.
Business owners throughout the world have become so obsessed with multitasking that even our most basic learning from age one has deserted us: Doing the next thing next. Remember that second step?
Taking a step back in business and reflecting on what needs doing and when is a vital part of growing as a person and as a business. Being disciplined to focus on one task at a time can help ensure the maximum quality of any task you set yourself. It sounds obvious, right?
As business owners, it’s all too easy to try to multitask and we very rarely complete anything 100%—instead, we complete several things at around the 70-80% complete range. Hey, let's face it, even if you complete this at 99%, it’s still not 100% complete, is it? This is the problem. Completing anything at even 99% is not complete and a bunch of these "almost complete" tasks will occupy your mind and, some could argue, are wasted hours if incomplete.
Learning the words "do the next thing next" from my own business mentor was so simple and so obvious in hindsight. And when he said those words in casual conversation, without him even realizing the impact, it hit me: "Wow, I am a multitasker." I have disowned the word ever since. Learning to do the next thing next not only emphasized what I was doing wrong but invigorated me to really focus on what was important, which was completing the next step 100% and not 99%—until it was a habit of "then and only then" moving on to the next thing.
So how can you stop being a multitasker and learn to do the next thing next? Here are my top five tips for unlearning that habit and making the new one.
1. Make a list.
Write a list of the top 10 things that need to be completed/implemented into your business. Clarify what needs doing to give yourself a concrete idea of what it is you need to focus on now.
2. Make meaningful tasks.
Try to make them business tasks rather than "to-do/everyday stuff" such as sending emails, working on your business to make things happen within your business and working in your business to keep things ticking along.
3. Make it simple.
To gain momentum, pick the low-hanging fruit off your list to begin with and tick them off as you go. Dopamine hits can then follow.
4. Break down each task.
Get started on each business task by breaking it down into manageable parts (if it isn’t a standalone quick fix). This can make bigger tasks much more tangible and may just get you going quicker.
5. Don't multitask.
We can all do five to 10 tasks badly or partially complete all of them, but it's important to remember to not start another task until the prior task is complete.
Sounds pretty much like a to-do list, right?
Well, it kind of is, but with a lot more discipline and a lot less distraction. This can ensure a complete and thorough accomplishment of your tasks, essentially getting your business to where it needs to be quicker and more thoroughly—I did say it was obvious!
So for a month or two (or 10), go back into the baby slippers you had at one year old and focus solely (no pun intended) on doing the next thing next.
Daren Henderson