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Are You Taking On Too Much At Once?

When you engage in multi-tasking, the results can be quite less than satisfying

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It’s understandable these days that many people, faced with a unique set of circumstances, brought on by mask and vaccination mandates, are grappling with ways to get things done. When one attempts to take on too much at once, however, and perhaps engages in multi-tasking, the results can be quite less than satisfying.

Consider this: A magnifying glass held up at the correct angle to the sun will quickly burn a whole through a piece of paper. At the same time, no matter how much sun shines through your office window onto your desk, none of those long and tedious memos are going to catch on fire. The lack of combustibility has nothing to do with the way the manufacturer engineered this flat piece of glass.

In our current era of multi-taskers, concentration and focus are underrated. Multi-tasking is occasionally helpful and seemingly satisfying but, along with the shower of information and communication overload, represents a paradoxical impediment to getting things done. Let’s see why.

More Speed, Less Comprehension

The term multitasking evolved from the computer industry, the early mainframe computers designed with parallel processes is perhaps the prime example of automated multi-tasking. Today, with the typical office professional sending or receiving more than 200 messages a day, counting all forms of communication, and all of them coming and going at shorter intervals, a generation of career professionals are being driven virtually to distraction.

Facing information and communication overload, ever-advancing technology, and more choices than anyone needs or even wants, nearly an entire workforce generation has been ‘taught’ to multitask as if this is the way it has always been, needs to be, and always will be. We offer our attention here, there, and then somewhere else. Like a one-man band, we get our strokes from strumming the guitar, tapping our foot, and blowing on the harmonica.

Too often, we equate flapping our wings, stirring up a lot of commotion, and making a lot of noise with accomplishment. We can barely tolerate stillness. For many, silence doesn’t appear to be golden, it seems more like a dark space. Undivided attention is a term that has fallen out of popular use.

Generally, we feel guilty if we don’t multi-task! We contemplate our increasing workloads and responsibilities and how they are subject to continual shifts, and justify multi-tasking as a valid response to a world of flux.

The Task at Hand

Despite the temptation to do otherwise, focusing on the task at hand is vital to getting things done. Whether there’s a handful of tasks confronting you, or ideally only one, give all your time, attention, energy, focus, concentration, effort, and all that good stuff to the task at hand, and then turn to what’s next.

Multi-tasking seemingly enables one to achieve time-saving benefits, but does it? While some people remain relatively unscathed by multi-tasking and can get as much done in the course of the workday, most people suffer in ways they don’t even understand.

Rather than increasing their productivity, multi-tasking diminishes it. They make more mistakes. They leave too many things undone. Their quality of work is not what it could be. And the list of potential hazards of multi-tasking is beginning to grow. Are you a victim to any of the following:

* Gaps in short-term memory?
* Loss of concentration?
* Problems communicating with co-workers?
* Lapses in attentiveness?
* Stress symptoms such as shortness of breath?

Crash Mode

When multi-tasking, sometimes your brain can go into a crash mode. This is characterized by not being able to remember what you just said or did, or what you’re going to do next! This has been termed “having a senior moment,” but it’s no joke and it doesn’t only happen to seniors.

Professor David Meyer at the University of Michigan has established a link between chronic high-stress, multi-tasking and loss of short-term memory. “There is scientific evidence that multi-tasking is extremely hard for someone to do, and sometimes impossible,” he says. Then, the time lost switching between tasks tends to increase the perceived complexity of the tasks and often results in making a person less efficient than if he had chosen to focus on one task or project at time.

Research conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health confirms that when the brain has to juggle several tasks at once or in rapid succession, it has to overcome “inhibitions” that it put in place to cease doing the task. It’s as if the brain is taking its foot off the break.

The Vital Keys

Focus and concentration will be your keys for getting things done. Multi-tasking, as it is popularly understood and practiced, is not your answer. It is expensive in terms of the level of stress induced and the rise in errors and, hence, can actually hamper productivity.

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Jeff Davidson is the world's only holder of the title "The Work-Life Balance Expert®" as awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He is the premier thought leader on work-life balance, integration, and harmony. Jeff speaks to organizations that seek to enhance their overall productivity by improving the effectiveness of their people. He is the author of Breathing Space, Simpler Living, Dial it Down, and Everyday Project Management. Visit www.BreathingSpace.com for more information on Jeff's keynote speeches and seminars, including: Managing the Pace with Grace® * Achieving Work-Life Balance™ * Managing Information and Communication Overload®



 
 
 

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Life

With Representatives Like Kelly Daughtry, We Can Take Back America

Daughtry is a soft-spoken woman who gets things done

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When President Trump takes office next January 20th, he’s going to need a cadre of strong-willed Congressional representatives. It’s not enough to simply retake the White House, we need the foot soldiers with the unshakeable resolve to restore America.

In North Carolina’s 13th district, one candidate is firmly rooted in the values that made this country great, and will make it great again. Her name is Kelly Daughtry and, quite frankly, the nation needs many others like her.

Raised in rural North Carolina and the daughter of a U.S. veteran, farmer, lawyer, and entrepreneur, Daughtry has been a practicing lawyer for the past 25 years in Johnston County, where she makes her home. She’s been in the trenches and is not skittish about the slings and arrows that come with taking bold, conservative positions for what is right.

Clear Positions on Vital Issues

Daughtry is exceedingly clear on where she stands and on what will improve the lives of American citizens. She is a vigorous supporter of law enforcement and decries ‘de-fund the police’ movements wherever they arise. She understands that, by and large, the men and women in law enforcement are dedicated, hardworking individuals who, in many instances, put their lives on the line.

Similarly, Daughtry supports the U.S. military and our veterans. She knows that nations around the world with rogue leadership wish to do us great harm, and that we must maintain a strong military at all times. Not coincidentally, a strong military is the best prescription for peace.

On the border issue, Daughtry recognizes that the Biden Administration is firmly committed to swamping our country with illegal aliens. Why? Because the U.S. Census count doesn’t focus on U.S. citizenship, only the number of residents per county and state.

Hence, Democrats can gain a 20-seat advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives by continuing to flood our nation. This ploy is precisely why Biden and company have brought lawsuits against border states seeking to protect themselves.

The drugs, the crime — the murders — and the bursting budgets of towns and states trying to cope with the onslaught of illegals should never have happened in the first place. Daughtry knows what needs to be done, and done immediately.

Reversing Biden’s Reckless Agenda

Daughtry will go to work on restoring our nation, dismantling Joe Biden’s reckless agenda for America. She understands that Biden’s policies towards China in particular, and the bribes he has taken, have been nothing less than devastating for hard-working Americans and for our national security.

Most notably, she is firmly opposed to the Chinese Communist Party and their representatives who are seeking to buy farmland throughout North Carolina as well as every other place in the United States.

Biden’s out-of-control spending has particularly hurt North Carolinians. Farmers have taken the brunt of the punishment. The unending inflation that we’ve faced for 38 months also has dealt a crushing blow to North Carolina small business owners and families in general. One of Daughtry’s first agenda items will be to help steer our country back towards fiscal sanity, which in turn will have a direct impact on the cost of groceries and gasoline.

Americans First

Like President Trump, Daughtry understands the importance of putting Americans first and of safeguarding or voting procedures, elections, and indeed what it means to be an American citizen. Of note, she has no misconceptions about the differences between men and women and will work to stop the malarkey that the Left imposes on us every day, with their “56” types of genders.

Daughtry is a soft-spoken woman and in her quiet way, gets things done. If Donald Trump had an army of Kelly Daughtrys, the country would be on firm footing in relatively short order. She knows what hard-working Americans want and need, and is exactly the type of politician that North Carolina must send to Washington D.C.

It is not an exaggeration to say that in Wake, Harnett, Johnson, and Wayne counties in North Carolina, as well as the entire state and entire country, the 2024 election will be the most important in our lifetimes. This has been said about other elections at other times, but considering the damage that the Democrats have wrought on America, the time is now to reclaim our great nation and, with the likes of Kelly Daughtry, we can.

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America is in decline because voters asked for it

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American voters have placed in office many people whose allegiance is to woke ideology instead of the public good. In many cases, these elected officials support policies that clearly are harmful to their constituents and to the nation.

Why would anyone knowingly vote for politicians who embrace policies that cause great harm? New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a case in point. DA Bragg doesn’t like to prosecute felons. Instead, bad actors are released immediately without bail. Bragg is not an accident. New Yorkers elected him.

President Joe Biden has allowed millions of unvetted immigrants to enter the country causing untold disruption in our cities and the threat of terrorism. Instead of deporting people who violate federal law by coming into the US illegally, we give them free rent, free food, free cell phones, free credit cards, free medical care, free child care. The same president has destroyed our energy independence, caused runaway inflation, and undermined our military readiness. Despite these misdeeds, millions of voters claim he is doing a good job and want him to run again in 2024.

Biden is using the legal system against his Republican adversary, Donald Trump, to deny him the right of due process, to confiscate his wealth, and to impose a lengthy jail sentence. “The law is being used to punish people you don’t like politically,” said Sean Hannity. Yet millions of voters continue to support Joe Biden.

These outrageous situations can be chalked up to an unconscious electorate. They voted for all these problems. The people of New York City are fed up with mounting crime. Yet they voted for Alvin Bragg, who is contributing to the crime problem by refusing to put offenders behind bars.

I am not describing a stupid electorate. Many of the voters who elect unfit politicians are highly educated. Mark Levin explains this phenomenon in American Marxism. He addresses the question that has stumped me for years: Why is it that so many intelligent, well-educated, affluent people in urban centers like New York and San Francisco have been seduced by the Left? Levin’s answer: “They are lured by the false hopes and promises of urban transformation and the criticisms of the existing society.”

When it comes to politics, many of our citizens have a myopic, under-informed viewpoint. They see themselves as compassionate people who want to help the disadvantaged. If they are white, they have been told that the white patriarchy oppresses blacks and other minorities. As a result, they may feel guilty about their own success. When it comes to immigration, they want to open our doors to anyone who wants to enter the country. Why? Because people in other parts of the world are suffering and liberals believe that we have a moral duty to help them.

What they are missing is that leftist policies have consequences. Bringing in millions of Stone Age people from the Middle East, for example, makes the US vulnerable to the disruption and violence that are tearing Europe apart.

An excellent analogy can be found in the game of chess. Amateur players look at the chessboard and only perceive the board as it exists right in front of them. They neither understand nor take responsibility for the consequences of their moves. Experienced chess players can see the board three to four moves ahead. They are aware that whatever move they make will entail consequences.

We have millions of American voters who resemble amateur chess players. They are completely oblivious to the consequences of their political choices. That is why California has turned from a garden in to a hellhole. The liberals who run the legislature in Sacramento are falling all over each other in the rush to provide free healthcare, free education, and welfare payments to illegal immigrants. But what about the consequences? Who will pay for all the freebies? What will happen to civil order and public safety when the government is no longer able to maintain the rule of law? No one wants to take responsibility for the unpleasant consequences of the leftist agenda.

Voting is no longer looked upon as a responsibility. “Elections are not held just for social participation,” said economist Thomas Sowell. “They’re not held just to vet our emotions. They’re held to elect people who will hold our lives and the lives of our loved ones in their hands, as well as the fate of the entire nation. To go out as if we’re voting for homecoming queen is madness!”

Sowell has suggested that for people who refuse to take the time to study the issues and candidates, “their most patriotic act would be to stay home on election day, rather than vote on the basis of their whims or their emotions, which is really playing Russian roulette with the history of the country.”

More than anything, we need informed voters who can opt for responsible candidates.

Ed Brodow is a conservative political commentator and author of two No. 1 Amazon Best Sellers, AMERICA ON ITS KNEES: The Cost of Replacing Trump with Biden, and THE WAR ON WHITES: How Hating White People Became the New National Sport.

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