A day in the life : Day 415

This week, I tried following the “single-tasking” trend that’s been popping up everywhere lately. After years of juggling tabs, notifications, and half-finished tasks, people online are suddenly talking about doing one thing at a time. It sounded almost too simple, but I was curious.

The timing wasn’t ideal. I had a tight deadline and thought this experiment might slow me down. Still, I decided to try it for one afternoon. I closed extra tabs, silenced notifications, and focused on one task from start to finish. At first, it felt uncomfortable. My instinct kept pushing me to check messages or switch tasks. I didn’t realize how automatic multitasking had become.

What surprised me was how tired I felt after just a couple of hours. Not drained — just aware. Fully present work takes more attention than scattered effort. But once I got into the flow, things moved faster than expected. I made fewer mistakes and didn’t need to re-check things as much.

The weather’s been warmer lately, which usually makes me restless and unfocused. I’ve also been eating lighter meals — more fruits, fewer heavy lunches — and that seemed to help with concentration too. Small changes, but noticeable.

I won’t pretend this fixed everything. The next day, I slipped back into old habits. But now I catch myself sooner. I don’t try to do ten things at once anymore when one will do.

Trends often make simple ideas sound revolutionary. This one reminded me that focus isn’t about tools or hacks — it’s about attention. And attention, once you start using it properly, feels like something worth protecting.