When we become stuck on the hamster wheel, we are essentially running at high speed, burning lots of energy, and getting nowhere fast. We work harder and gain little, if any, ground. It’s when that little voice in your head keeps asking, “How long can you keep going like this?” Or we reflect back on our day, wonder where it all went and what we actually accomplished as our to-do list still looks the same. I’ve been there and most likely so have you.

Today’s world comes with a host of distractions from email notifications, cell phone pings, social media alerts, and the list goes on. As a culture, we pride ourselves on our ability to multi-task and it comes at the cost of productivity. In fact, “multitasking” reduces our productivity by as much as 40%. In addition, it can drop our IQ by as much as 15 points. Is this really something we want to pride ourselves on? Count me out.

Busy means we are paying too much attention to the urgent and far too little attention to what really matters. Trying to manage too many tasks within a day simultaneously inevitably causes our stress levels to heighten. Our stress levels range from low, moderate, to toxic levels. Operating at a moderate to toxic level for prolonged periods of time can actually cause the brain to decrease its ability to pay attention, perception, short-term memory, learning, and our ability to find our words. Furthermore, when we find ourselves in this state, we typically experience emotional distress, have poor nutrition, and we get inadequate sleep.

Yes, we won’t have to go back and do tasks many times; we can actually complete most of them from start to finish. There’s that extra time you’ve been needing!

Most often, when we are rushing throughout our days, we are not being conscious of our habits, using the highest level of problem-solving our brains are prepared for, and really thinking through the tasks we are completing. Analyzing our tasks, removing anything unnecessary, and prioritizing our to-do list is also a great way to find more time within a day. Blocking out time with limited to no distractions is necessary for feeling a sense of daily accomplishment.