I’ve spent years trying to reprogram my brain. At the age of 18 I was told I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. “Here, take these pills” the doctor told me. I did that for about 6 months, and then quit because I hated the way it made me feel – or perhaps better to say, the way it made me un-feel. Since then I’ve explored numerous methods of meditation, focus, spirituality, productivity, and ways to create balance in life. Professionally I’ve obtained an MBA in Leadership Development and also project management certifications. So I know how to get things done. Still the question remained: how to quiet the mind?
A few years ago, I stumbled upon an intriguing TED Talk by Paolo Cardini: Forget multitasking, try monotasking. This started me on a process of focus where I consistently ask in a given moment, “What’s next?” Not what’s next in terms of being hypercompetitive, as it’s used in athletics. Rather, it’s a mentality of what’s next in terms of what is present. Not what is in the past, not what is in the future. What is next; what is now.
This process was hyper-refined when I started at McGhee Productivity Solutions. Now I use the Integrated Management System (IMS) to determine what is next. The IMS may sound fancy or complicated, but it’s simply a way of using Microsoft Outlook as my dashboard for life. (It’s easy; contact me and I’ll show you how it’s done.)
By tracking all of the things in Outlook using my IMS, I can keep things out of mind, but not out of sight. My mind is more at ease and I can focus on what’s next, knowing that at any given point I can reference my IMS. I monotask more effectively, I get more things done, and most importantly I get them done correctly the first time.
Today I travel across the country, (tomorrow, the world!) evangelizing this approach to productivity. Some people have said to me, “C’mon Daryl, take off the company hat. If you didn’t work for McGhee Productivity Solutions, would you really be this enthusiastic about this process?” Yes, yes I would. I wish I had this process when I started my career over 15 years ago. It simply works.