Red Balls, Tomatoes, the Multitasking Myth and the Power of Concentration

I've talked about my obsession with little red balls, but now there's proof…Check out this video made by my friends at Dogs In the City (which gets my vote for the most awesome doggie daycare in Portland):

As you can see, that little red ball is the object of my full and devoted attention. Multitasking? Puh-leeze!! Multitasking is a myth, no matter what humans say or how many things they try to juggle. In fact, it's impossible to do many things at once and do any of them well. Brains simply aren't wired this way (it doesn't matter whether you have two legs or four). Plus, the constant switching between tasks can be as frustrating and unproductive as doing nothing at all!

My advice to frazzled humans? Sharpen your focus by dumping the distractions. If you are addicted to e-mail, turn it off. If gossip headlines are your Achilles' heel, close your browser. If you can't let a ringing phone go unanswered, pull the plug.

Right now you are saying, "Easier said than done." Yes, dogs, especially successful dogpreneurs, know firsthand that removing temptation takes a lot of hard work and discipline. If you are one of those people who lose focus and don't know why, start taking notes. Write down everything you do during your workday. Like dieters who keep food journals, time wasters are more likely to change their ways when they see evidence of their bad habits in black and white.

Here's another idea for people and dogs who like round, shiny red objects: Francesco Cirillo created a time-management technique called the Pomodoro Technique that uses a basic red tomato kitchen timer to break tasks into 25-minute increments called "pomodoros," which means "tomatoes" in Italian.

Boy, do I love tomatoes. Especially the little cherry tomatoes that come straight off the vine. But I digress...

The goal of the technique is to keep you focused and working in increments, one pomodoro at a time, until a task is completed. At the same time, you keep track of every single interruption on a sheet of paper so that you can eliminate them over time. It's simple and clever, and there is a free instructional booklet at www.pomodorotechnique.com.

So there you have it, a dog's advice for keeping your eye on the (red) ball. For more ideas on how to sharpen your focus and achieve better work/life balance, read my book Secrets of a Working Dog: Unleash Your Potential and Create Success.

Ciao for now,
Bella