Paralysis From Too Much

You’ve got so many things that need doing. Your task list has over a hundred items. Your inbox is overflowing. Your calendar is packed. And right now, thinking about all of it, you feel completely paralyzed. Not because you’re lazy but because the sheer volume you have to deal with feels like too much for any one person to face. You need to get it all done. And you feel like now would be best.

Here’s the thing: no one can do it all right now. The sooner you release that expectation, the sooner you’ll actually make progress. You may have too much to do but you can only tackle the task at hand. We’ve all heard this. I’m going to say it again today. It’s one thing to hear the message, it’s another to apply the lesson.

Hey there. It’s me, Kore. And you’re listening to Exercising Self-Control: From Fitness To Flourishing.

Single-Tasking Is A Superpower

This concept is more than just a productivity hack, it’s an exercise in self-control. Single-tasking, or focusing entirely on the one task before you, is something self-help books, instructors, and project managers emphasize constantly. Yet hearing it and living it are different things. Truly applying the principle, on focusing on the present task, can transform it into a superpower.

How Tasks Actually Work

Think of your workload like sand in an hourglass. Only one grain passes through the narrow neck at a time. No matter how urgent it seems, all tasks can’t happen simultaneously. Tasks take time. Rushing won’t change that reality. Forcing everything to happen at once only leads to inefficiency and burnout.

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash

The Power Of Focused Attention

The goal is to free your mental bandwidth. When you concentrate on one task your skills and focus sharpen, making you more efficient. Your energy becomes laser-focused rather than scattered across a dozen competing priorities. This singular attention is what accelerates real progress.

The Ten-Page Principle

Consider a practical example: imagine starting a thousand-page novel. At first glance, it seems insurmountable. But what if you dedicated yourself to reading just ten pages each day?

Focus only on those ten pages. If inspiration strikes or you have more time and you read more? Wonderful. But the priority remains hitting your daily target. If you fall short one day, don’t dwell on it. The key is the consistent, manageable goal. In about two months, little steps will carry you more than halfway through the novel.

Apply It Everywhere

The same principle applies to your work, your projects, your life. One task. One day. One step at a time.

When you stop trying to do everything simultaneously and instead pour your full attention into what’s directly in front of you, your life changes. The overwhelm dissolves. Your effectiveness increases. And you move steadily toward your goals. Not through an impossible to achieve effort but through the routine power of sustained focus.

Start Now

Start today, in this moment. Pick one task from all those you have to do today. If you’re using a system it will be the next task you have scheduled. Focus all your attention and effort fully on that task. Forget about the rest. Do the task well.

And when you’re done, or you’ve used up the allotted time, move on to the next task with the exact same attitude: full focus, forget about the rest.

With training this will become how you operate over the course of your day, every day. Before you know it all the previously overwhelming tasks will have been checked off your list. All completed one task at a time.

That’s it for today. Catch you next time.

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