One of the most troubling and stress-inducing aspects of life these days is that we seem to be multi-tasking all the time. At work we have our phones and other devices beeping at us with social media updates, texts, and voicemails. Bosses nowadays seem to want all our projects worked on at the same time, and all finished yesterday. Is it any wonder we’ve become conditioned to do the same at home?

Break this habit. Set an absolute time to concentrate completely on your children and house. Put away all distracting devices, portable computers and other screens. Stop all work and don’t be tempted to do two things at once. Don’t multi-task. Embrace single-tasking. For the vast majority of us, multi-tasking has simply become a habit. We’re not getting any more done than when we single-task, and trying juggle homework supervision, dinner prep, and finishing a few final things from the office is just asking for more stress.

Here are some beneficial effects of single-tasking:

• You won’t be frazzled. Everything is a lot calmer and less stressful.
• You’ll get more done, more efficiently, in less time.
• You won’t even be tempted to leave the dishes in the sink and answer a few work emails. If 6:00 to 7:30 is totally devoted to dinner prep, dinner, and cleaning up, you’ll be amazed at how easily you keep on top of things like the dishes.

Single-tasking is becoming more popular in the work world as well. Before you know it, you may find yourself doing it at work too. And we wouldn’t be surprised at all if you become more productive and less stressed.