Something that I’ve struggled with for some time, both at work and outside of work is that I have an ongoing stream of ideas which I’m compelled to start all at the same time. This is impossible of course. I know this. You know this. Even the expert multi-tasker has experienced the futility and gnawing discomfort of having to accept the fact that their intention is bound by the capacity afforded a two armed, two legged, one headed being. There is only so much a single-bodied being can do.

And before anyone comes back with the retort: But what about technology? It enables me to exponentially increase the amount of work I do in a given amount of time. It is possible to multi-task! Let me kill that statement in its tracks. I’m not talking about quantity here. When I have this urge to act on all these ideas at the same time, it’s not for the shear numbers of it, its for the shear feeling of it. I’m talking about quality. I want to experience the fullfillment of completing an action that leads to a desired or at least a completed outcome.

Intellectually, I know that in order to do anything worthwhile, I have to focus on one thing at a time, break it down into steps, and then work on those steps consistently over time. Each of these steps, if completed, makes me feel pretty good. But, oddly, each time I sit down to start a step, it’s as if I’ve forgotten the satisfaction I got the time before. I seem to forget the joy and pleasure of focusing on just one thing. My body knows it, but my head is a slut to quantity. It gets seduced by the illusion of believing it can do more than one thing at a time, and do it well.

That’s when I turn to the body, in its wisdom and evergreen energy . There’s a lot of ways the body can re-teach the head about the power of simple action. One of my favorites is to cartwheel. A few of these babies in the middle of the day sets me straight and back on center – ready to take on the world, one business call at a time.