Look again at that person who seems to multitask with ease and you will find someone who is absolutely disciplined about recognizing switching costs, about getting to completion, about not starting too many things, about saying “no” to things that are not worth doing.
I know people will say that following the Rule of 3 and Do One Thing At A Time is not realistic; “My job/industry/life just isn’t like that; I’m a CEO/parent/student; we have to be agile/responsive/attentive to our customer/family/professor’s needs; etc. etc.”
You have to make some tough decisions. What’s better: 20 irons in the fire, or 3 clean, pressed shirts? Do you like looking busy and important, or do you like finishing things?
Nothing is simple and easy, and you have to do the work. You have to prepare. You have to run the numbers. You need a plan. You need to account for the unexpected. You need to understand how to test your results, and how to interpret the results of the test.
Oil is currently spewing into the Gulf of Mexico because somebody didn’t plan. Somebody didn’t account for the unexpected. Somebody didn’t test.
Remember switching costs. Remember setup costs. Remember to account for things you didn’t account for.
Do you get it yet? We simplify tasks in our heads because we envision successful outcomes and are not realistic about the number of steps that are required to achieve them. That’s the real reason the old Project Manager’s rule of thumb is so frequently applied: think about how long it should take, then double it, then double it again.
You have a certain number of hours in a day. You will be interrupted as you try to complete tasks. You will encounter challenges. You will encounter switching costs and unexpected setup costs and things you didn’t know you didn’t know. If you are not realistic about your time costs, you will overrun your time budget. You will not finish on time. You may not finish at all.
Do you want to start a bunch of things? Starting things is fun, but adds no value. Do you want to finish one thing?
Finishing one thing doesn’t look as impressive as that guy over there. Look at him! He’s working on 10 things at once!
Who is adding more value?
Quit starting things. Start finishing things.