Photo credit: Ryan Ritchie
Myth #1: Your success is contingent upon your ability to multitask.
Multitasking is a myth. The brain simply cannot give 100% to two tasks simultaneously. Multiminding is different. Multiminding refers to your natural tendency to attend to your various roles and responsibilities. Parents mmindd their children during the workday. Managers mmindd a range of ongoing projects. People mmindd their careers, mindbody health, relationships, and projects. In the course of each day, we transition between roles, but even when we are in one role, we are often aware of the others, taking a moment here or there to mmindd.
Photo credit: Daniel X. O'Neil
Myth #2: If you can't manage all the moving parts of your life without breaking a sweat, there's something wrong with you.
We are imperfect and complex beings — and that’s a good thing.
Photo Credit: Walt Stoneburner
Myth #3: You should be able to do everything on your own.
We are also social beings. While our preference for how we interact with others, who we interact with, or how often we are social, we thrive through our connections. More importantly, our creations thrive through the collaborative process. Even a self-publishing author consults colleagues for editing and constructive critique, studies marketing from bloggers who have already navigated the process. No one truly creates in isolation.
Photo credit: Georgie Pauwels
Myth #4: Life can be tracked in timelines and sequences.
Life is more complex than a sequence of events. It is a narration with digressions and repetitions and evolutions. It is a squiggley, curved, backtracking, doodley, loopy line. And each life is unique. Shouldn't the technology we use to attend to our lives support its non-linear, complex nature?
Photo credit: Jeremy Keith
Myth #5: We need technological innovations to fix our bad habits.
Whatever tools you use — technical or not — should augment and support you, not fix you. How many times have you tried a new tool only to abandon it shortly thereafter? Sometimes, the timing is just not right. More often, the tool isn't right, designed with the intent to manage or control out bad habits without supporting our strengths. The best tools – those we return to – help our pre-existing strengths to guide the evolution of our weaknesses.
Photo Credit: Dafne Cholet
Myth #6: You can manage your life with a to-do list and calendar.
We use to-do lists. We use calendars. Daily. But each of these tools has its time, place, and limitations! They do not account for the natural way in which our day may not go according to plan. We need more. The next generation in productivity tools must go beyond the Industrial Age production-line approach and account for the Digital and Social Ages.
Photo Credit: Karim Corban
Myth #7: You’re a failure because you aren’t on top of everything.
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Myth #8: Your mind is wandering because you're unfocused and undisciplined.
Photo credit: Joachim Rotteveel
Myth #9: You need this gadget, system, app to save you.
You don't need anyone or anything to save you. Seriously. It's time to reject the notion that we are helpless beings surviving at the mercy of technology.
Photo credit: WorldIslandInfo.com
Myth #10: If you could only plan better, you’d be more successful at managing your life.
Conquer. Manage. This is the 21st Century.