How to Build Multitasking Skills? Time management has become the pinnacle of success today

Multi-tasking shouldn't make you feel like you're in the middle of a cyclone; there is actually a way to apply effective multi-tasking principles that will help you keep your sanity and add time to your day.

You can only handle so much in any given 24-hour day and unless you've found a way to add more time to the clock, you have to do more in less or the same amount of time without running yourself into the ground. We all have 168 hours in the week and it's all about how effectively we use the time we have.

Multitasking can help you get more done in less time, and it doesn't have to leave you feeling like you are being pulled in ten different directions at once. These five principles of effective multitasking can help you maximize your time:-

1. Honor thy Calendar!

Effective multi-tasking also relies on effective time management and that means, whether you like or not, working from a calendar. Without having to keep everything in your head, complicating your already busy life - you can write it down and let it go to some extent. You don't have to stress about forgetting it because it will be in your calendar. Honoring thy calendar can actually provide a lot of relief and control in your life.

2. Becoming Effective at Switching Gears.

This is where a lot of people get tripped up. They finish one task and move on to the next, only to still be thinking about the task they just finished. When a task is complete, all emotional energy related to that task should be released. Look at the completion of your tasks as an emotional release. It's done - finished. You no longer have to think about it. You're moving on. One big key is to try and keep similar activities together so you don't have to mentally make big adjustments between tasks. It wastes precious time when you have to switch between unlike activities.

3. Prioritizing High Payoff and Low Priority Asks. Concentrate on prioritizing your tasks from high payoff to low priority.

At the top of your list should be the high payoff items with the low priority items at the bottom. Emailing a friend to tell them about your date last night or your golf game and score does not qualify as a high payoff activity. Following up on referrals, returning calls to current clients, generating leads, etc. are tasks that qualify as high payoff activities. Generate the business first because that is what generates income. Everyone knows this but for some reason we just don't always focus on it and make it happen.

4. Give Your Full Attention to the Task in Front of you. This is sometimes an easy thing to overlook, but often the reason why our tasks take longer than we estimate. We allow ourselves to be distracted by what's around us and next thing you know you've started 3 projects and completed none. When you set a clear rule that you will focus on only one specific task at a time, you increase your efficiency dramatically. Not only will you become quicker at completing tasks, but you will improve your accomplish rate by finishing more tasks even quicker. This is a base principle in multi-tasking efficiency - learn to focus on the task at hand and ignore distractions.

5. Setting Specific Time Frames for Task Completion. Multi-tasking includes time management. It's amazing how focused we can really be when we have a deadline or a short amount of time to get a task completed. If you have 15 minutes to complete the task, focus on setting the intention that you will get it done within that amount of time so you can move on to your next task. However, you don't want to complete something within the time allotted and have it done poorly.

Try it. You will be glad you did.

Schedule EVERYTHING - even showers, eating, drive time, working out, etc.