There are a few things you can do and still multi-task, but you have to think about how you learn and think. For example, I can have a load of laundry going, and the dishwasher going and write at the same time. Only one of those 3 things requires my brain power.

Once the dishes are done and the laundry is dry, I cannot write and fold or put away… Hmm. How can I multi-task those activities. I know! I fold my laundry when listening to teleconferences. If I need to take a note, I put the towel down, jot my note and go back to folding. Now, folding is a “brainless” activity for me. I go on autopilot. That is why I can multi-task it with something else.

Could I listen to a teleconference and blog at the same time? Not likely! Too much of the same types of thinking.

Check out http://www.productiveandorganized.net/2008/01/getting-things.html for a video of guru David Allen as he talked with staff at Google. I like him because he is very realistic about Getting Things Done.
To your success!
Stephanie

Here’s another of those well known, but largely ignored tidbits of fact: humans do not multi-task well.

One of the few things that annoys me more than people who ostentatiously multi-task to prove how busy they are is when I fall into this trap myself.

if you are in the room with the television turned on, your mind is drawn to whatever is happening on the screen.

My problem here is that my girlfriend, who’s also working from home right now, is also a TV addict, and likes to have the TV on as “background noise.” ARGH.

Internet “Research”

All I had to do to know what you meant was see those quotation marks. “Hey, I’m writing about this topic, so I should read its Wikipedia entry! And while I’m here, why not read about every episode of The X-Files? It’s sure to come in handy someday!”

Like you, I have to write with the television off, because if I have it on, the quality of my work is poor, too. I can’t even think when the TV’s on.

I use to leave my e-mail up while writing, and every time it would ring to let me know I had a new message, I stopped what I was doing — mid sentence — to check it. NEVER again! I now make myself close my e-mail when I’m writing so I’m not tempted to check it every time it notifies me of a new message.

I have over 100 blogs on my feeder (this one included), and the thing I’ve discovered that works best for me is writing “blog reading” into my daily writing schedule. Of course, it’s the last thing on my list for the day, because of the time it takes to read the blogs, but all the blogs are great and I just can’t bring myself to ditch them.

I suppose my time wasters are pretty much the same as yours, but I’ve left a few tips on how I handle two of them. Maybe those tips will benefit you as well as others.

Other things that always get me:

- Phone calls. I almost never answer my phone but give me a project that I don’t want to do and suddenly I need to call the aunt I haven’t talked to in five years to see how her day is going.

- IM. Another form of communication that is all too easy to get wrapped up in while you’re online. I leave Trillian off now because otherwise I don’t get work done.

- Errands. Sometimes I decide I need to get out of the office four or five times a day.

- Snacks. The kitchen is the biggest time-waster for me when I try to work from home!

Of course, with any of these things, it’s all about self-discipline. I think it was a great point in this post that if you actually don’t have that much time (like when you work full time in addition to blogging) you get more done because you’re more focused.

I know from reading other bloggers that this would rank pretty high on their list.