When you find yourself rushing to get things done and feeling like you aren’t accomplishing anything, you need to take a moment to slow yourself down. Rushing and failing isn’t what you want. You want and need to accomplish things successfully.
Today’s task is designed to help you slow down. You are going to make yourself a cup of tea.
I’m a coffee drinker and love my morning coffee, but I’ve come to appreciate tea in the afternoon. I particularly like a cup of mint tea, especially when my throat is sore or I have a cold. I’ve found that the process of making tea is also soothing and ritualistic, which is good for helping you slow down and regain your focus.
Here’s what you need to do.
- Leave your task or your work.
- Go somewhere else, like a kitchen or break room, to make your tea.
- Prepare your tools: a mug, something to heat water in, and the tea.
- Heat your water to a full boil. Do nothing else while you wait. Do not check your email or make calls. Simply wait.
- Pour the water over the tea (a bag, loose leaves, a pot, whichever way suits you).
- Wait for at least four minutes.
- Remove the bag or strain off the leaves and drink your tea.
You can take your tea back to your desk, but it is better to sit quietly and sip your tea. You can use this time to contemplate your work. When you return you should be ready to try again, but this time, slower and more mindfully.
Dave Caolo understands this. See his terrific video: Just This.
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Randy MurraySimple Productivity Task Of The Day: Make A Cup Of Tea by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
