Richard Ceci – The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time
Voicemail feedback line – 1-877-636-1474
Welcome to The Daily Quote—a podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I’m your host, Andrew McGivern, for February 22nd.
Now, did you know that today is Single Tasking Day? That’s right—this is the day where we celebrate the radical idea of doing one thing at a time. Revolutionary, isn’t it? In a world where multitasking is treated like some kind of superpower, Single Tasking Day is here to remind us that maybe—just maybe—we should stop juggling five things at once and actually focus.
And that brings us to today’s quote from Richard Cecil, who once said:
"The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time."
Now, Richard Cecil wasn’t some modern productivity guru—he was an 18th-century clergyman. And yet, here we are, hundreds of years later, still needing to hear this simple truth.
Think about it—how often do you start an email, get a text, open social media, then suddenly find yourself watching a video about how to train a raccoon to fetch your slippers? Yeah, it happens. But the reality is, multitasking usually just makes everything take longer and leads to more mistakes. Science backs this up—our brains aren’t designed to handle multiple complex tasks at once.
So today, in honor of Single Tasking Day, try doing just one thing at a time. Fully focus on that report, enjoy your lunch without scrolling, or—dare I say—listen to this podcast without also checking your email.
Your mind will thank you.
That’s it for today’s episode. Take a breath, slow down, and remember—sometimes the fastest way forward is to do one thing instead of three. I’ll see you tomorrow, same pod time, same pod station for another Daily Quote.