What is monotasking and how can students practise it?
We have all adjusted our lives in such a way that we don’t believe that there’s a more productive way than multi-tasking. But what if there is, and what if the idea is exactly the opposite to multi-tasking? Yes, we call that monotasking and it is one of most rapidly emerging productivity hacks. Students can particularly benefit from this life skill.
What is monotasking?
Monotasking is the act of performing a single task without any deviation. Here, one is required to focus on one task at a time, without juggling many at one go. Experts believe that when we focus solely on one task at hand (mono task), irrespective of day-to-day distractions, the rate of efficiency increases, the speed of work goes up and the risk of mistakes reduces. It is believed that monotasking increases efficiency and the ability to take up a greater number of tasks than usual with a longer attention span. All these are required skills for students to perform well in the academic sphere.
How to practise monotasking?
Distractions and challenges are part and parcel of our day-to-day lives and to be honest, none of us can control everything that happens around us. Monotasking will enable students to minimise distractions and set their priorities right. Here are the ways to practise monotasking.
Identify primary priorities: In order to practise monotasking and improve efficiency, one needs to find out the task that absolutely needs to be done by the end of the day and pace out the rest for another day. In the case of a student, juggling between subjects does more harm than good. Hence, if he or she is running behind in history revisions and has a pending science assignment, focussing on these two for the day should be the top two priorities. Once they are accomplished, they will invariably feel motivated to take up two more important tasks, while giving 100 per cent to each.
Set deadlines: Believe it or not, personal deadlines often increase productivity. If students need to write a school essay, they should set a time limit of 45 minutes and try to finish it within the allotted time. However, the time limit needs to be realistic. The idea is to set up strict time windows for the tasks and stick to them. This also helps to achieve optimum level of focus. Also, trying to set up a no-call time while monotasking comes in handy.
Turn off social media and their notifications: We all would agree that social media has become a part of our daily lives, not only to stay connected with our close ones or build new connections, but also because it keeps us up to date. This is why turning off social media and their notifications is easier said than done. However, a monotasking mindset dictates that we don’t always need to be updated and it is more than okay to stay away for a while, finish the job at hand and then come back and check what was missed out.
Prioritize response in order of urgency: Students are often tempted to immediately respond to calls, texts and emails, from their peers and teachers. This temptation to reply as soon as possible is not healthy with respect to productivity. According to the law of monotasking, prioritizing as per urgency is the key to better efficiency.