Por Maritza Morales
We are starting a new year with much faith and hope, leaving behind a year that marked our lives like no other and will remain forever in our memories.
As expected, a new year arrives and we are motivated to start new projects, to be better people, to leave behind bad habits. We set new goals, take new paths, and seek to do things differently to achieve different results. However, most of the time these goals and dreams only last the first couple of months of the new year. Afterward, we fall back into routine and into carrying out activities (or not carrying them out) that our brains are conditioned to do, returning to a comfort zone.
We believe that we can be very productive by performing a variety of tasks simultaneously, the so-called multitasking. This is something we have been practicing in modern society because it's how we were educated, believing that by doing many tasks at once, we will achieve more! But have we stopped to ask ourselves if we are truly productive? Or are we just filling ourselves with things to do without any order of importance just to keep busy? Or worse, do we end up sick and unhappy?
Being busy is not the same as being productive. We can be productive in our day if we only focus on a couple of activities. One of the main causes of modern illnesses is stress, which triggers a plethora of diseases that could be avoided if we lower our stress levels and the pace of our daily lives.
One thing at a time! We all know that we can't be in two places simultaneously, so why do we believe that our mind can handle two or more things at the same time? It's logical, isn't it?
This would be the first step to achieve the goals and objectives we have added to our wish list for this 2021, stop wanting to do several things at the same time and instead take one step at a time, day by day with consistency to gradually reach the result we seek. Just as the Japanese practice with their philosophy of kaizen, which consists of renewing oneself in small steps, with constancy and continuity, contrasting Western concepts of revolution and conflict.
The brain works better with simple challenges; big changes bring stress, and we already know the negative effects stress can have on our lives.
We can ask ourselves the following questions:
- What are we good at?
- What makes us happy or passionate?
- Can I sustain this long-term?
- Does this thing I have or do contribute or add value to my life?
Once we've answered the previous questions, let's start by making a list, not of activities, because the task list is usually very long and we can get lost by not knowing how to prioritize what will really lead us to achieve the daily goals.
Instead, let's work on a success list, prioritizing tasks in order of importance. This list will be short, precise, and will lead us step by step to create a purposeful and successful life in whatever we set out to do.