How I Monotasked Writing a Book About Monotasking.
Writing and publishing any book takes a lot of focus and hard work.
Writing and publishing a book about monotasking takes a lot of… monotasking.
I first started outlining ideas for The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better in the Spring of 2019. Prior to then, I had been thinking a lot about how I could do my best work and navigate life in general while not only facing the typical distractions of 21st century life, but some next level challenges including cancer and divorce.
I founded and run a company called Juniper Books. As someone who has spent most of their career encouraging the world to have and read more books, I tend to think a lot about the “why” behind what I do. Why do so many people love printed books, bookstores, and libraries? Why do I believe so strongly in reading and why am I such an advocate for the printed book in the digital era?
I read two books that came out in 2019 — Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport and How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell — both of which informed my thinking about the “attention economy” and also clarified what type of book I wanted to write. I decided that my book was only worth writing and publishing if it was helpful on every page. It would also need to be simple, practical, and full of ideas that could be implemented any time, any place.
“Monotasking” as a foundational concept started with my contemplation about the place of reading in the 21st century.
I realized one day that the act of reading on paper is essentially the opposite of using our phones. A printed book requires one to monotask with all their attention, whereas a smartphone encourages one to multitask with fragmented attention.
I continued this line of thinking to explore what else in life is similar to reading in that it requires our full attention, or at least, what other activities can we practice with our full attention in an effort to not only do that activity really well, but also to strengthen our attention spans for use wherever and whenever we want and need them (e.g., resisting social media to get some work done or pay attention in a conversation!).
After I thought through the concept of reading as a monotask, I moved on to walking, listening, and sleeping. From there I added driving (which later became “getting there”) then learning, teaching, playing, seeing, eating, creating, and thinking.
Nearly all of the book was written at the desk above. In fact, this desk has seen a lot of monotasking over the years before I even had a word for it. I bought the “steel tanker” desk in West Hollywood in the 1990s and it has always played a big part in my productivity and focus. (multiple businesses, screenplays, and books were started at this desk — it has moved around over the years but always does its job!)
When I sit down and put my headphones on, I can really focus on thinking and creating (two of the monotasks mentioned in the book). While my company office @juniperbooks is a few miles away, I am most productive at home especially when it comes to writing and doing “deep work.” (Deep Work is the title of another Cal Newport book that influenced me).
When I got stuck writing a particular section of the book I used a lot of the practices that I describe in the book to in order to do one thing at a time to do everything better. I went out for walks, I played a music (piano or guitar), I took a nap, I played a game with my kids, or went out and had some fun.
I like to edit on paper and I made pretty much all of my edits for The Twelve Monotasks at our dining room table. I’m a very visual thinker so seeing words on paper helps me determine if concepts are working, if an idea is in the right place, and if it feels like the right size. I printed out the key drafts of the book so during the process of writing The Twelve Monotasks, that worked out to 10 drafts that I printed and edited on paper. (yeah, I know it’s a lot of paper, I try to make up for the waste I generate by monotasking eco-friendly initiatives at home and at my business).
I feel like I generally spend too much time looking at screens, can anyone relate? So any opportunity to monotask with pen and paper leads me to settle into a focused state of doing one thing at a time very quickly. Plus, marking up, physically flipping over, and getting through a lot of pages is so satisfying!!!
As I mention in the book, a lot of my ideas start on post it notes or in a journal. Then they make it to a Google Doc. I wrote the entire first draft of the book in Google Docs. Once I’m at the stage where I’m trading drafts with an editor or reader, the process moves to Microsoft Word. I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate on the covers and interior layout of my books. The comments/changes for those processes take place in Adobe Acrobat, but I also print some of those out on paper to get a feel for the physical layout.
I knew that in order to successfully complete and publish The Twelve Monotasks: Do One Thing at a Time to Do Everything Better, I not only needed to monotask the writing, but also the research, and the process of getting feedback from early readers of the book. It was important to me that the book not just be good on paper but also be helpful in real life for as many people as possible!
If you’re writing a book, thinking through a concept, or doing anything important in life, remember:
Everything can be monotasked.
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth monotasking.
To monotask, break apart the tasks you may have unknowingly combined together. Take everything away until there is one thing left.
Bring your focus to that one thing and do it well.
And remember, strong Monotasking Muscles are the key to the future! Life will only get more distracting in the years to come.
