Let's get ready for some serious shift. This is a podcast shifting Inside Out hosted by your quantum shifter Angela McCourt, we are diving into ways to empower and enable a quantum shift. Inspiring topics hacks and guest speakers take us on a journey around authenticity, challenging status quo, personal power and living a purpose filled life. So in this episode, I just want to take a minute to kind of dive into why we can do things differently, and maybe how. And one of the things that I found over the years is when I basically slowed down to restructure my personal processes on how I did my work, how I spent my time, and really, really being intentional about what I spent my time on and what time of the day, and realizing when I was at my peak performance for being creative and for being productive, and not wanting to use those times for things that were more tactical. I found that, you know, this really helped me to actually speed up and be more productive. So I wanted to dedicate this solo episode on slowing down to speed up. And one of the big reasons is and had a great conversation with a podcast guest coming up. That was all about fulfillment in our day. And how because we're multitasking so much and because our minds are shifting all over the place. Because we are still very dependent on each other to get our job done. In a lot of cases, that we end up leaving our day with a lot of unfulfillment, because there is so much left open that we can't even like say we crossed off of our plate. And so that need that we have for fulfillment in our day, is has become really one of our biggest desires. And it's also one of the ones that really disengages and disconnects us from our work where we feel like we didn't get anything done in the day, we didn't have a productive day, we can't put our head on any one specific thing that we were able to actually accomplish in that day. our to do list and multitasking have become overwhelming. So how can we slow down to speed up and find a greater fulfillment and productivity in our day. And it's funny because I used to claim my ability to multitask as a superpower I was so proud of. And in reality, this method of working drained me, it left me feeling unfulfilled and a bit disconnected. I literally would rush through tasks and projects in the same way. Instead of really putting a lot of thought and attention to what mattered most. I would leave work with open items that didn't get closed out, which made me feel unfulfilled. And what I didn't realize for a long time is this approach is draining and impacts not being able to fully engage all of my gifts. And when I would take the time to fully immerse in a new idea or strategy or a solution to a problem, I was able to utilize the gifts that would bring those to reality. This is because several studies should have shown basically that high multitaskers experienced greater problems focusing on important and complicated tasks, memory impairment of new subject matter and difficulty learning new material, as well as obviously increased stress levels. And so when I look back now, I realized that my real superpower was capacity, which is very different than being able to switch gears left and right across multiple things at the same time. So capacity meaning mental, emotional and creative capacity. Plus, honestly one of the best classes I ever took. And I totally give credit to a lot of the success I've had in my career was a typing class in high school because it gave me capacity and speed in this world of electronics and technology, and email and chat and, you know, text and all of these things. And so, you know, being able to add that physical capacity to communicating and to getting work done has really made a huge difference, and it offered even more of a superpower. But how to use this fully versus just multitasking chaos is the big question. So I did formulate over the years a great skill around prioritization which relieved some of the pressure of getting everything done right away, I started asking for and giving clarity on what was actually urgent versus not. And when something needed to be done in reality, because in our world of feeling the pressure to respond right away, to complete everything on our plate by the end of the day, and depending on others to get anything done, it leaves us out of control and everything, and it can be overwhelming, chaotic and unnecessary. So a few years ago, I started to time block on my calendar, during my most creative and productive times in the day. So that was my sacred space. And I started to put more focus and creativity into things I was navigating, or maybe projects I was bringing to life. During those time slots in those days of the week, which really were I showed up in my most effective way. And then I also found that context shifting was killing me mentally. I had a variety of areas of responsibility teams skills and outputs that had me shifting all day long from meeting to meeting an email to email, I would have short conversations, shorter email responses, and pushing myself to meet deadlines, regardless of how many hours I worked, it was absolutely not fulfilling. And what I started doing was grouping things together, based on area. Okay, so area of responsibility in both my calendar and meetings, and in topics to focus on. So this kept me in that mental focus and attention for more than just an hour at a time. And I tried to schedule what I was with my team and chunks, so I could be in listening mode more effectively. And this is the interesting thing, think about what is the most important effective way I need to show up into my work and group things around that particular skill and capability. There were many adjustments that definitely helped for sure. However, I didn't realize how much more productive and effective I could be if I had discipline around focus, intention and attention. So I slowed down, I got rid of everything is the everything is urgent mentality. I clarified expectations, and I gave myself a break. I also set boundaries, to provide the space that I actually needed to be more productive. And this allowed me to strengthen my other gifts, like bringing in new ideas planning more holistically into the future, and more strategically outline effective plans. So back to multitasking chaos. Shifting the mind all day long from one task to the next actually goes against its natural desire to keep things simple and to preserve the body, which is one of its main jobs. And studies show that switching from one task to the next takes a serious toll on productivity by as much as 40% multitaskers have more trouble tuning out distraction than people who focus on one task at a time. And doing so many things at once can actually impair cognitive ability. While our subconscious mind is processing at least 134 bits a second of information, our conscious mind can only take in about seven plus or minus two pieces of information. The brain is not meant to multitask it switching from one task to another makes it difficult to tune out distractions and can actually cause mental blocks that slow you down. I found this even more so when my responsibilities had spread across many different parts of the business. And I had switching context all day, whether it was calls, meetings, creating or conversations with team members for each of those areas. It was exhausting. And there are some tasks that we are robotic about and can do with our eyes closed for sure. And without thought, but with so much information coming in visually and audibly it can be overwhelming. This is because the in the brain the multitasking is managed by executive functions and these control and manage our cognitive processes and determine how, when and in what order certain tasks are actually performed. According to Meyer Evans and Rubinstein. There are two stages to the executive committee process number one is goal shifting, deciding to do one thing instead of another. And number two is role activation, changing from the rules from the previous task to the rules for the new task. And part of the issue of multitasking is the start of the day. When we pick up our phones after opening our eyes for the first time, our minds start going, and we start feeling the pressure to get everything done that we need to do new to do start overriding the plan we created the night before. And we lose control before the day even starts. Crazy. Another area is meetings or video calls. This is not a new issue due to remote working. But it already existed in physical group meetings to laptop open email open and guess what's going on half listening while looking at email creating documents booking travel or other tasks needing the brain. So then after leaving a meeting where critical information was shared, I've repeatedly seen someone start asking, So what's going on with this program or issue, if they had just listened in the meeting, and avoided the other distractions, they would have, they would be fully informed, fully informed. Instead, it was obvious they were not listening. And this can create major disconnects, especially in a very fast paced environment. So when we look at the impact multitasking has on decisions, it's also clear that the brain gets fatigued, and it becomes challenging to make the best decisions. If we are distracted, we take in half of the information. If we are tired, we can't process it. Well, if we are overwhelmed, we shortchange the potential impact of our abilities and our gifts. So in May of 2021, I started writing my book. And I decided based on advice of all the writers and authors out there to set myself a goal of writing 2000 words a day, four days a week, I would do this in the mornings, which are my most productive time between nine and 12 o'clock in my most creative time as well. And when I started writing, I put my phone in a totally different place, I did not have email open, and I had only my writing in front of me. And I realize now that the exercise of being committed, and dedicating 100% focus and attention on writing create a discipline in me, this was a huge aha moment. So I started my book on May 6 2021. And I finished on July 26 2021. It's a 35 Chapter 76,000 word book, minus a couple of weeks that I did not write. So being able to do that and accomplish that, it did take a lot of obviously organization in my mind ahead of time, having the right resources, having the right tools, but also the discipline to sit down and actually do the writing, and to do the creation and pulling everything together. And being able to fully immerse ourselves into a project or a creation or a solution, or even a problem that we're solving allows us to deliver something more effective in a more timely manner. And best of all, we feel fulfillment at the end of the day. So I've actually adapted this practice in my business by grouping things together, that take a certain skill or capability, a thought process to complete, I prioritize over and over again, to ensure I'm working on the most important items, and I give myself permission to put things aside that are not necessary, so that I can give my full attention to the things that are relevant. And so when I think about slowing down to speed up, it really is a skill, a discipline and a benefit. So take a look at your day, personal processes that you have that you get your work done through, have a conversation with your boss on what is necessary for you to be doing and set boundaries around your response time. Okay, so the expectation is really clear. And you're not just trying to treat everything as urgent, and then time block your best creative and productive times of day to allow yourself to get focused and giving that full attention to the big things. And I'll leave you with this. There's a section not even a full chapter in my book on this topic, and I have a make the shift sections I'm going to share these tips with you now. And this is how to become more productive through less multitasking and sanity. So number one, use the 20 Minute Rule and stick to each task for at least 20 minutes before shifting. Number two, limit the number of things you juggle at any given time to to number three, invest time and prioritizing and reprioritizing, so you don't feel the pressure to do it all at once. Number four, take a quick assessment of the various things you're trying to accomplish if you catch yourself multitasking and need to be productive, so obviously be very self aware as you're going through this process. Number five, eliminate distractions and try to focus on one task at a time. This includes allocating time slots in the day for email review, rather than constantly looking at it. And turn off your notifications if you can. Number six, create more structure in your work by performing highly creative tasks in the morning, and then take a short break before moving on to each different task. And then I would add that having a conversation around expectations is one of the most freeing and it provides you freedom in not only your day, but in the control you have in the work you're doing. And having that conversation with colleagues having it with your boss, your manager, and really understanding what their expectations are not what your bar that you've set for yourself and your own expectations are because that's where we're typically higher than anyone else expects us to be at. This is this can be a very freeing thing and this can open up some time for you to be able to really do these practices and get focused give attention and attention on the different things that really really matter. And this will allow you to be more productive. So here are here are some great ways for you to slow down in order to speed up I hope you enjoyed this episode.