I’m fascinated by human behavior. What we say. What we do. What we don’t say and don’t do.
I got in an interesting discussion during a speaking engagement this week in Holland, Michigan. Small group (only about 18 people) at the Director level of a technology company.
It was a conversation about focus. Specifically, single tasking vs. multi tasking. It was based on the following graphic:
Find Your Flow.
I won't go into all the nuances of the graphic but the Flow quadrant is where we're stretched (challenged) out of our comfort zone and deeply immersed in what we're doing.
It cannot happen with multi tasking.
There's hard evidence behind Flow and how it increases productivity and happiness. But as an observer of human behavior, it's anecdotally something I've noticed with my coaching clients.
Without a doubt, when they're talking about a "great day" or a day where they feel really proud, it's never because they did 53 different things and did them all kinda well.
It's because they were able to block a period of time, minimize distractions, immerse themselves, and make tangible progress towards a meaningful outcome.
It's not something that naturally happens in our current world. In fact, it's almost impossible without being intentional about it. But it is a key to peak performance.
If you're looking for an action item, please take a look at your calendar for this week. Did Flow happen for you? If not, you're probably leaving some productivity and personal satisfaction meat on the bone. And it gives you the opportunity to carve out some time for it next week.
Keep Outperforming,
