One thing I am learning is to slow down. Multitasking is great; but when I try to do everything at warp speed, I just end up with typos and stress. Ayana Mathis, author
Not long ago, I burned a favorite pot badly. It took me several days to clean it. I boiled multiple pots of soapy water in it, used the dryer sheet method a couple of times, took an SOS pad plus lots of elbow grease to it before it was finally clean. If it had not been a pot that is so good for so many purposes, I would have tossed it in the trash. But, I didn’t want to lose it because of my stupidity.
I was trying to tend to more chores than one. In addition to cooking supper, I was washing clothes, folding a previous load and checking the computer for an incoming message I was expecting. Since I retired from teaching, I have slowed down. But as I’ve continued to grow older, I know that these days I need to focus on each task at hand. Period. I don’t want to have to save any more pots.
Mothers multitask. They have to. Actress Amy Ryan, as a new mom, explains, “There are certain things you learn to do as a parent - using every single part of your body because you’re multitasking all the time. You’re holding the baby and you’re closing the door with your left foot.”
With the birth of each child, mothers learn more ways to multitask. How many times has a mother stopped in the middle of timely work to tend to an injured child even if its only a boo boo cured with a kiss?
To Multitask
David Silverman, writing for the Harvard Business Review, defends multitasking in the world of business. He says “Multitasking helps us get and give critical information faster. It keeps others from being held up. It gives you something to turn to when you’re stuck.”
Whether we work inside or outside of the home, we’ve all been at these spots where we hit a snag that requires input from elsewhere. Rather than twiddle our thumbs while waiting, we turn to another task at hand.
Silverman concludes that the higher one is in an organization, the more important multitasking is. He asks, “Does the president of the United States get to units? Can he say, “I’m not available for the rest of the day because I’ll be working on that spreadsheet…? Or does he have to keep doing his job while handling whatever spilled milk (or, say, zillions of gallons of oil) comes his way?
Or Not
Paul Atchley, writing for the same column, same publication as Silverman, says “You Can’t Multitask, So Stop Trying.” Acknowledging that technological demands are here to stay, Atchley says that there are ways to avoid overload. First, make an effort to do tasks one at a time and complete each one if possible. If one must switch to a new task, take time to make a note about where you were with the first task. Then give the second task full attention. Neither are served if one keeps switching between the two.
Secondly, he advises us to close the door. He says, “In the ‘old days,’ people did this when they had to work hard on something. Third, acknowledge that not all information is useful. “Consider which communications are worthy of interrupting you.”
Countering the push to multitask, the University of Southern California Psychology Department issues these findings. “Multitasking affects one’s IQ and brain efficiency.” In several studies, the IQ scores of participants dropped as much as 15 points if they were tackling several tasks at once.
The USC psychologists state, “Rather than bouncing back and forth between tasks every other minute or so, dedicate chunks of time to a certain task. For example, spend 20 minutes reading the day’s news and then move on to your next assignment for 20 minutes and so on.”
Whether we want to multitask or not, today’s world clamors for our attention from all sides. Our job must first be to prioritize the demands and tend to them in a timely fashion. Today’s deadline jumps ahead of tomorrow’s. We all must be prepared to stop for those “boo boos” needing immediate attention. But, we also all want to avoid “burned pots” because our attention was diverted by trying to do too much at the same time.
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