These tips are brought to you by Toastmasters International.
Forget multitasking. It doesn't work
Multitasking, the ability to work on several things at once, is a skill that many people boast about. But such boasting is misplaced: multitasking does not work, neither theoretically nor in practice. The human brain is a brilliant computational and creative tool, but only if it has the ability to think sufficiently about one particular topic. It is not capable of thinking rationally - or at least efficiently - about several things at the same time. Multitasking is therefore a myth and more often than not involves chaotically jumping from one thing to another. So start practising uni-tasking, i.e. working deeply on one task at any given moment.
Make a list of tasks for the day ahead. And write it on a daily basis
Before each work day (or any day when you simply want to get something done), you should write down a short to-do list. This will allow you not to be distracted by other, random things that come up during the day and remind you what your priorities are. Make this list every day - either in the morning before work, or the night before. This is the only way to make this habit an effective routine.
Work in sprints. And take a break in between
As soon as we have a busy day ahead of us, the prospect of many hours of work that lie ahead can be highly demotivating right from the start. People generally work better when they break a big project into smaller, partial steps. Ideally, you should work on these smaller tasks in sprints, which means, for example, 30- or 40-minute intervals with a 15-minute break in between.
Before sending or submitting anything, read it again. You will save a lot of time
Too much time is spent correcting things you have not done properly. This happens especially when you are extremely busy, which is also a time when having to fix mistakes is highly inconvenient. Although it may not seem so at first glance, in the long run it pays to spend a little more time on the task, ensuring you have not made a mistake. It is better to do something once and do it properly. Read each email and each document thoroughly, and send or submit it knowing that it is correct and you will not have to go back to it later.
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