(Or Get Everything Done, One Thing at a Time)

Multitasking was the catch phrase on most time management experts' lips for many years. Achieving more in less time by doing more than one thing at a time was considered the way to efficiency and greater profit. However, these days, it seems that many of these experts have changed their tune. Multitasking is no longer considered the way to accomplish more. In fact, it may lead to less productivity and greater stress.

"When you multitask, you live halfway," says Michele Woodward, a Washington D.C. area life coach. "I encourage people to do just one thing completely before you move on to the next."

Some things are relatively easy to multitask. For example, it's easy to talk on the phone and fold laundry at the same time. Laundry takes little to no thought so you can still be fully engaged in conversation. The challenge comes when we are multitasking important things and trying to juggle a number of complex projects. When you multitask, you're not giving something your full attention. You aren't giving your best so it's impossible to get the best result. It's easier to make mistakes and recent studies show that the result of multitasking is a loss in productivity of 20 to 40 percent. This is due to the time needed to move from one job to the next. The more complicated the tasks you are performing, the greater the loss in terms of time and results.

So why do we love multitasking? It feeds into our love of busyness, which makes us feel important. After all, if we're so busy, we must be valuable. We think we're working hard and feel efficient. In reality however, we are often just spinning our wheels. We are acting like the proverbial "chicken with its head cut off, " dashing from one thing to the next without ever really getting anything done. The things that are the most urgent get our attention while the important tasks rarely get completed.

Monotasking, on the other hand, means focusing all our efforts on one thing at a time until it's done. It means not being distracted by interruptions or "urgent" things but instead, working on what needs to get done now.

Financial guru Suze Orman is an advocate of monotasking. "I, more than anybody I've ever met, do not believe in multitasking," she says. "I think it's the absolute ruination of the perfection of a project. I came to this conclusion after watching the way racehorses win. They come out of the gate with blinders on in a go for the finish line."

Orman is such a believer in the art of monotasking that when she is writing, she doesn't answer phones. "I think you have to stop thinking you are at everyone else's beck and call." When she hires someone to work on a project for her, she asks them to clear their schedule and not take on other jobs. "I'm not saying they can't multitask," she explains. "Just not on my time. The people who multitask, I think, do everything to mediocrity at best."

While you may not want to go to the monotasking extreme Orman does, the benefits can't be overlooked. They include:

1) Getting more accomplished. While it may feel you're getting a lot done when multitasking, you usually aren't. In fact, lots of projects may get started but never fully completed. When you monotask, you see the job through without allowing other distractions to pull you off course. The result? You get more done.

2) Greater satisfaction. When we finish more tasks, the sense of accomplishment makes us feel good and we tend to enjoy our work more.

3) Achieving a state of flow in your work more often. Many multitaskers experience a sense that they are working much more than they actually are. They may work at a few things, feeling as though a lot of time has passed only to glance up and see the clock has barely moved. Monotaskers, however, often get into the "flow," a state that allows us to do our best work. When in flow, there is a sense of timelessness. You may look at the clock after what seems like a short time, only to find hours have slipped by. This state of flow allows for higher productivity as well.

4) Doing the job better. When we are focused exclusively on a task, we usually do it with greater intensity, making fewer errors. Priority tasks get done instead of all the busy stuff with which we tend to surround ourselves.