Want the Secret to Less Stress and More Happiness? Thatcher Wine Says It's All About the “Monotasks”—and You Can Start Doing Them Today
As you read this, let me ask you: What else are you doing right now? Are you drinking your coffee? Are you waiting for an Uber? Obsessing over a deadline? Thinking about someone?
Whatever you are (or aren’t) doing, zero judgment from this writer. One of the hardest things I aim to do—ever—is to dedicate my attention to one thing at a time. This is why Thatcher Wine’s book, The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better, intrigued me.
The title says it all. Wine posits that when we practice dedicating our full attention to one task at hand, we live happier, fuller, better lives. The author calls this monotasking. It’s the opposite of multitasking, which we all do habitually, he tells me over Zoom. “Our devices convince us that we're good at multitasking and should do it all the time. In monotasking, it’s about being present.”
The more I dug deeper into Wine’s book, in which he lists 12 monotasks of simple things from reading to walking to eating, the more I wanted to challenge myself to really do this. Because the most worthwhile feats are often the simplest.
And as Wine says, "everybody deserves the right to do one thing at a time."
A Conversation with Thatcher Wine
How did the concept of monotasking come about for you?
I went through a particularly intense period for about three years. I went through cancer treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I went through a divorce just after cancer. I also had an undiagnosed crack in my skull that was causing headaches. After going through those things, I had to put my business back together and refocus and reclaim my attention—all while trying to be a parent. And I had to figure out how to enjoy life and not be stressed out and overwhelmed all the time.
I looked back at my history while also looking at how successful people—Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey, and others—approached their productivity habits. The theme I have in common with them is a love of books and reading. I thought: What do books do for us besides tell us stories and give us information? How do they strengthen our attention and our ability to focus? I wondered about bringing the same amount of attention that we bring to reading to other activities. What if we paid attention in a conversation as if nothing else was going on? What if we went for a walk and didn't look at our phones?
So the idea of monotasking started with reading, but it expanded to the other 12 monotasks in the book. The more I practiced monotasking, the more focused I became, and more able to see distractions for what they are and able to resist them.
What are the benefits of monotasking?
The benefits really keep getting better. The three key ones are:
You get more done. With productivity, people think, I have all this stuff to do. I should do it all at once. No, if you do one thing at a time, you'll get more done. And the work quality is better.
Reduced stress. Most everyone in the world right now feels super overwhelmed. There is lots of information. There is tons of bad news. Even with good things going on, it tends to be overwhelming. Reducing your stress by just being present and doing one thing at a time is huge.
It increases happiness. This comes from being more connected to people you love and care about.
How do we start to monotask?
The first thing is to bring some awareness to the fact that we all have too much to do and to give yourself permission to monotask. It’s important to say to yourself that it’s okay to do one thing at a time. I'm going to give it a try and see if I'm going to be more productive.
The next thing is to do something every day that strengthens your ability to pay attention. This could be reading. This could be going for a walk without your phone. This could be playing. One thing I do in the morning is read. Instead of reaching for my phone to check social media like I used to, I reach for a book.
It’s simple. Just start your day off with a healthy habit where you can pay attention. When I do, my day ends up being much calmer.
You say we need to give ourselves “permission.” Talk more about that.
We've let our ability to focus atrophy. We need to strengthen it. We do that by doing one thing at a time but giving yourself permission to do one thing at a time is hard because the whole world is set up to tell you that you should do the opposite and that you're good at doing the opposite. When you give yourself permission to monotask, you’ll see that it feels good.
You don't have to do it 24/7. Just start by doing it a little bit at a time—and you'll see. You’ll get that gratification. You might do better work. You might get a promotion. Your kids might really feel like you're present and paying attention to them. So it all starts with just giving yourself permission and acknowledging that it's hard. It's not supposed to be easy. But it’s worth it.
Reading is the first of the 12 monotasks you cover in your book. Why is reading so critical? And how much do we have to read?
People have to sit still when they read. I’ve heard from tons of people that it's harder than ever to sit still and read a book. People feel restless. People feel like it's wasted time; that they should be doing something else. Well, that’s what we've been conditioned to think: If you're folding the laundry, you should also be listening to a podcast. Or if you're driving, you should also make a call. With books, you realize you can’t multitask. You have to do one thing at a time. If my mind wanders, I have to go back and reread those pages.
You don’t have to start with War and Peace. I write in the book that you can start with a short article, even a short piece like in the ‘Talk of the Town’ section of The New Yorker. Or you can reread a book that you loved as a kid. Simple. Easy. It’s about retraining that muscle. Start with just one section or page and try to build from there.
What about someone who doesn’t like to read?
I write in the book to skip ahead to the other monotasks or do some other things that you're great at or enjoy. Go for a walk. Go to a concert. Just practice the ability to do just that. Then you'll probably find that you come back and actually read better.
You say that sometimes we’re not even aware that we’re multitasking. I can relate, as my head feels like it’s spinning sometimes. How does monotasking help this?
It’s part of the human brain. We’re bouncing all over the place and thinking about the past and the future and inventing stuff that doesn't necessarily exist. Monotasking is about bringing some awareness to your thinking and trying to isolate it and then applying it to what you need to get done and what you want to get done. It helps to not let your attention get hijacked out of your control. It’s good for us because so many people work from home and need to cultivate the ability to pay attention and strengthen that ability to focus and to do their best work.
When you bring yourself back to the present moment and think about what you're doing right here right now with that task, it’s a great skill that pays off.
Thatcher Wine is a creative entrepreneur, the author of The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better, and the coauthor of For the Love of Books: Designing and Curating a Home Library. He is the founder and CEO of Juniper Books, a company based in Boulder, Colorado, that specializes in custom curated libraries and beautifully designed book sets. Learn more at thatcherwine.com.
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