As a modern-day young woman, I have a 9 to 5 job, I run a full time mental health blog, have content creation gigs and I am pursuing my BCom degree. Quite impressive right? I know.

You are probably thinking that sis has got this but let me be the one to say when it comes to doing multiple tasks all at once I have disappointed the female species a number of times.

Because as a woman this comes to you as second nature, so I believe but not this girl. Somehow, I was not awarded that superpower, which is very unfortunate.

Well, if you were to ask me how I am currently managing my daily life the answer will be I am not.

Before you call me a bluff, hear me out for a moment. So here it goes: At the very beginning when I took it upon myself that I will work, serve the people and study. Yep! That was all me feeling like Captain Marvel, little did I know that in addition to all this I had to have a social and love life. There and then I knew I was really not cut out for this.

Trying to keep a routine and an organized plan just isn’t something in me. I am easily distracted, and I just hate repetitive patterns.

You know how some people eat and text at the same time? With me I’ll do more texting and forget that there’s food in front of me until my stomach reminds with that annoying growl and I respond at the back of my head “okay okay relax I get the point”

But nobody’s perfect so no pressure. When multi-tasking the general idea is to balance out what you are doing the same until I apply my 70:30 rule this is where 70% is what’s more important and urgent then the 30% is not the less important stuff but whatever else I pick along the way and just throw it in. So, 4% of this 5% of that you catch my drift.

I have gotten to learn lately that most of it is just caused by overthinking and that in fact I am not doing so bad.

The trick is to divide your tasks into small chunks and match what’s easy to do together and get to work. It’s easier to have your coffee and reply to a few texts or messages.

Work smart not hard really sums it up perfectly.

I thought I would share some of the tips I have learnt overtime on how to get this multitasking thing on lock down.

This is a 5-step method that has proven to work effectively and is the best thing I have ever done for myself or maybe I am exaggerating a little, but I am trying to sell you something here, roll with me.

At the end of this you will do right by yourself and probably thank me more than you should (wink).

• Jot it down – this can be done as a to do list or can be recorded in your daily planner; the purpose is for you to tick off your tasks as you complete them. I like to keep a status progress on here as well, there is “in progress”, “in complete”, “complete” and “postponed” – everything not done today will be first on the list tomorrow. I believe keeping track also keeps me in check.
• Prioritize – the most urgent tasks come first but remember we are working smart not hard, do not rush to finish everything all at once as this will mess with the quality of your work. Whatever is left from today and can be done tomorrow moves over.
• Schedule – now that you have your ducks in a row, timing is everything. Make sure you set time limits for each task and allow yourself some downtime in between to recharge.
• Concentration – focus entirely on what you are doing in each given moment, then switch tasks.
• Group your tasks – sometimes, you don’t have to switch tasks. You can work on more than one simultaneously if they are related.

I hope these super sweet tips help you work smart and increase your productivity.

Written by Sarah Banda

Blogger @Poemstellium

Instagram @sarah.banda_

Twitter @iam_sarahb_