Maximizing efficiency doesn’t necessarily mean upping stress levels. It’s been my experience that I’m more productive if I slow down, take several deep breaths, and focus on completing one task at a time.

Research indicates there is no such thing as multitasking. The brain can do only one thing at a time. MRI imaging shows a bottleneck in the part of the brain that routes input when the brain tries to process too much information. So why make your brain inefficient by overloading it? Why add to your stress levels by trying to do too much?

You may wonder how a person walk and chew gum at the same time.Those actions, as well as other “muscle memory” functions like typing and playing a musical instrument, are the products of habit learning and are controlled by a different part of the brain than the declarative memory learning process.

Studies have shown that workers who don’t fragment their attention are more productive and more accurate than those who try to accomplish too much at one time. Another way of saying maximizing efficiency.

All that said, we live in an age of information overload. We are expected to “multitask.” Here are a few suggestions of ways to cut down on the distractions that fracture of focus while increasing our productivity:

Create a to-do list

•  Prioritize each duty.
• Refer to list often.
• Keep list up-to-date.

 Clear away distractions from your work area

• Spend 10 minute each day decluttering.
• Keep only one thing at a time in front of you.

 Manage your e-mail

• Don’t check your e-mail until you complete an assignment
• Check e-mail at set points in the day.
• Turn off e-mail alerts.

Reflect & review your accomplishments at the end of the day. It refreshes the brain.

When TV Stevie and I first got married, we started sharing “one good thing” before we ate supper each night. As our family grew (and became verbal), the children joined us in the sharing. It is as automatic as breathing for us to say, when we sit for our evening meal, “My one good thing is…”

Good things are our blessings.

Gratitude, according to my faith, requires acknowledging the blessings which are a part of our lives.  There is no limit to what we don’t have, so it is better to inventory what we do have.  Take nothing for granted, from the opening of our eyes in the morning, to closing them at night. Each moment in between is an opportunity to count our blessings.

Thanksgiving shouldn’t be one day in November where we overeat and watch football (or slave in the kitchen cooking, then cleaning up), but a daily practice.

I am blessed.