The Flow State. Maybe youâve heard of it. Some call it âbeing in the zone.â Itâs that sweet spot where the outside world seems to melt away. Writers and Inventors have been known to find it. Artists and Athletes frequently experience it.
Itâs been recognized for at least 30 years, but no doubt many people throughout history have made their way to this mysterious, yet accessible, state of mind. In 1990 psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi introduced the concept of flow and described it as being in a âpeak experienceâ. He said, âthe best moments usually occur if a personâs body or mind is stretched to its limits, in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.â
Have you ever heard someone say theyâre a great âmultitaskerâ? Or had a potential employer say theyâre looking for someone who can âmultitaskâ? In todayâs world, being able to juggle numerous tasks is practically seen as a badge of honor. Those who can keep up with the demands of many responsibilities are labeled more productive, more dedicated, and âworth moreâ than someone who only does one thing at a time.
However, in recent years, psychological studies have indicated that multitasking in the way we imagine it, doesnât really even exist.
Our brain doesnât actually focus on multiple things at once. Instead, it flits back and forth between tasks at a rapid pace. When our brains have to dart back and forth like this between all our different tasks, we end up losing focus for a fraction of a moment while we switch. Ultimately, this causes us to lose time while dancing back and forth, and also causes us to never enter into a state of âflowâ â a state where we fully engage and enjoy our work. These studies demonstrate that multi-tasking isnât actually an effective productivity technique at all, and that by trying to âmultitask,â we actually diminish our overall efficiency.
But multitasking doesnât just cause problems in our day to day. It also causes issues over the long term in regard to our life goals.
When we âmultitaskâ – or âdabbleâ – in a variety of different activities and pursuits, we never fully master any of them.
Putting your time, energy, and resources into many different goals means that you have to distribute your time, energy, and resources further, therefore causing each goal to develop slowly over time.
Think of your time, energy, and resources as a water pitcher, and each of your goals as a cup. If you have many cups, it will take longer to fill the cups and you may never fill any of them at all. If you do end up filling a cup, it will probably take quite a long time.
So, is there a solution to this multitasking problem?
Gary Keller, author of The One Thing, thinks there is. And if the title doesnât give it away yet, itâs to simply focus on one thing at a time.
Keller writes that:
âSuccess demands singleness of purpose. You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects.â
In other words, Keller suggests we drop our multitasking habits, both in the short term and long term. Instead of answering calls, reading emails, working on a project, and scrolling on TikTok, just choose one thing to focus on at a time, and youâll get much further (and faster!) than if you hadnât. This also means you should choose just one goal to give your attention to, rather than 5, or 10, or 50, like we often try to do with our New Yearâs Resolutions. (Which may be why we give up on all of them by mid-February!)
One reason doing only one thing at a time works so well is because youâre able to achieve a state of flow. A state of flow is a term psychologists use to describe a state in which youâre not easily distracted and can work fluidly and calmly. Youâve probably experienced this state of flow at some point in your life. It feels amazing, right? In order to harness that âflow,â you have to focus on only one thing at a time. Rather than forcing your mind to keep stopping and starting, you can drive forward purposefully.
Doing only one thing also means that you can devote more time, resources, and energy to that thing and gain massive improvements within a shorter amount of time. Remember our water pitcher from before. Now that you only have one cup to fill, it fills up pretty quickly, right? And once itâs filled, you can move onto the next cup, then the next, and so on and so forth. Before you know it, youâve filled up many cups very quickly.
You may have also heard the story of Warren Buffettâs pilot, who asked Buffett the secret to his success. Buffett told the pilot to write down his top 25 goals in life. After writing them down, Buffett told the pilot to circle his top five, and that everything else on the list should be avoided at all costs because those goals will only distract him from ever accomplishing the top five.
Whether the story is true or not, the moral still applies.
If you have 25 goals, itâs unlikely youâll accomplish all of them. But if you choose your most important 5, youâll have a greater chance of success. And of course, those other 20 goals could easily get in the way of your progress with the top 5, so itâs actually to your benefit to avoid working on them.
This is the power of doing only one thing at a time: it makes your chance of success much greater, and youâll get to enjoy that success sooner.
However, itâs important not to get sucked too far down the rabbit hole of doing just one thing at a time.
Keller writes that:
âWork is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls â family, health, friends, integrity â are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.â
Obviously, things like family, health, friends, and integrity are extremely important aspects of anyoneâs life. If we choose to only focus on one thing, these other major facets would crumble and ultimately, we would become miserable.
In other words, you canât let absolutely everything in your life fall to the wayside in pursuit of your âone thing.â But you should carefully examine each of your pursuits in your life and ask yourself how important they really are.
So, whatâs the best way to focus on doing only one thing? Keller recommends creating a âSuccess List.â He explains it like this:
âLong hours spent checking off a to-do list and ending the day with a full trash can and a clean desk are not virtuous and have nothing to do with success. Instead of a to-do list, you need a success listâa list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results.
To-do lists tend to be long; success lists are short. One pulls you in all directions; the other aims you in a specific direction. One is a disorganized directory and the other is an organized directive. If a list isnât built around success, then thatâs not where it takes you. If your to-do list contains everything, then itâs probably taking you everywhere but where you really want to go.â
A success list is built by finding out what your values really are. You can try the exercise Buffettâs pilot used, or you could just think of what would really constitute success in your mind. This list should be extremely short. Once you have it, it will give you immense clarity when it comes to designing your day, your week, and your life.
By allocating your energy intentionally, youâll stop getting pulled in a million different directions, and start making progress towards the life you desire.
As Keller writes:
âAchievers operate differently. They have an eye for the essential. They pause just long enough to decide what matters and then allow what matters to drive their day. Achievers do sooner what others plan to do later and defer, perhaps indefinitely, what others do sooner. The difference isnât in intent, but in right of way. Achievers always work from a clear sense of priority.â
Prioritize your âone thingâ and eliminate the rest from your life. The result may just surprise you. And the power of the âone thingâ will help you achieve your goals faster than you could have ever expected.