Single Mindedness

Yesterday’s post on The Sound of Silence, sparked a lot of thought on my part as it became a topic of conversation over afternoon drinks, and because of a great comment from Lori.

I’ve come to the conclusion that multi-tasking is really a sin, at least for me.

I have a friend, my former publisher, who has never multi-tasked in her life. She has such single mindedness that when you are talking to her, and the phone rings, she ignores it. Even if she suspects who is calling, and has some idea of how important it is, she still ignores it. In fact, I have never once witnessed her picking up the phone, looking at a television or computer screen.

When she is working on a project for a client, or talking with a friend, or playing the piano, or walking her dogs… whatever she is doing, she is doing that with everything she’s got – unfiltered, undistracted single mindedness in every endeavour.

The first time I ever saw the type of work she does for her clients, I was completely blown away. It was a simple 6-page brochure she put together using InDesign. Now I have seen a lot of brochures and eBooks, not to mention the thousands of graphics on websites and blogs I have seen. This was, by far, the most exceptional piece of work I have ever seen. It was simply brilliant. The title was not just catchy, it was profound. Her use of space, her selection of words, her choice of graphics, and the way she put these all together was – honestly! – a work of art.

While it certainly helps that she has a lot of talents, and is one of the most intelligent people I know, but when I asked her how she was able to accomplish such a beautiful piece of work, her reply was this: “I just keep working on it until its finished.”

How long did she spend working on this 6-page brochure with less than 800 words of content? Three days.

Three days without turning on the television.

Three days without answering phone calls.

Three days working on the same small project, thinking about it, contemplating it, revising it, and revising it over and over and over again, without stop except to eat, walk her dogs, and sleep.

On top of this, designing brochures is not even what she considers one of her core competencies. She has done very few of them. But regardless of what the project entails, she puts the same degree of single mindedness into her work. The result is that her clients are always, always blown away. Her fees are basically triple what anyone in her field would charge… and she still has to turn new clients away because her schedule is usually booked for one to two years in advance.

What alarms me about her single mindedness is only this – I used to be much like that. But over the past couple years I’ve slipped into an awful, sinful multitasking mentality.

Everyone multitasks. Everyone has multiple windows open on their computer, checks their email while they’re on the phone, and almost everyone picks up the phone when it rings, regardless of what they are doing. It is acceptable so, there is seldom a problem in doing it.

For me, its a habit I feel I need to get out of. So for the next thirty days, I have decided, I will absolutely refuse the temptation to multitask.

I honestly don’t see the value in it. Do you?

Related posts:

1. The Sound of Silence