Multi-tasking – a Bad Note to start on in the New Year

I remember when I used to put down multi-tasking as one of my strengths on my resume. I now realize how much of a weakness multi-tasking actually is. Instead of getting 3 tasks done at once I’m actually not paying attention to any of these tasks and am performing them poorly. This pretty much happens every time I try to multi-task. If I’m on the phone and looking at my e-mail I can actually end up saying words in the e-mail to the caller or I have absolutely no idea what I’ve just read or heard. It’s not effective and it ends up wasting time, not saving time.

The problem with multi-tasking is that in an effort to do more than one thing at once your mind ends up concentrating on the wrong bits of information. What actually happens is that the useless information ends up being what your mind remembers while the important information gets lost. What’s the point of holding onto useless information?

The other problem is that if you are thinking of or doing more than one thing at a time, how can you possibly care about either task if you can’t even provide those tasks with the concentration they deserve? Often your brain is overtaxed so you stop caring and that can lead to a whole host of problems, sociopathic behavior being one of them. I’ve met sociopaths and while I find it slightly fascinating that they can lie to your face and actually accept that lie as the truth, I don’t like surrounding myself with people who aren’t truthful. Since relationships, whether personal or business, are what drives us, how can you nurture these relationships if you don’t care enough to listen attentively to your boss, your client or your child? Will they continue to keep coming to you to help them solve a problem if they feel you don’t care? People tend to do business with those people they like so spending a meeting on your blackberry instead of listening isn’t likely to get you on their Top 10 Most Popular Businesses list.

Stress levels actually increase quite a bit when multi-tasking. This is because your mind is trying to do something it shouldn’t (doing 2 or more things at once) and it’s incredibly stressful. Think about what happens when you are totally in the moment and concentrating on one thing. Think of how focused your mind is, how you seem to get motivated and the work or effort produced is greater than at other times. Think of how happy that type of concentration ends up making you. It’s like when I go skiing. My favorite run in Stowe, VT is Goat. Goat is narrow, full of moguls, tree roots, rocks and ice. If I am not concentrating solely on skiing and where I am heading, I could seriously injure myself. Yet skiing down this run makes me incredibly happy, nearly giddy because I know it’s one of the few times when I get the sheer pleasure of being in the moment of skiing down a beautiful mountain and relying on the skills I have worked an entire life on to get me safely down the hill and I can’t be thinking about whether or not I paid a bill or whether or what to talk about in my next newsletter. I find that because I’m in the moment my creative juices start flowing and ideas will just come because I’m allowing my brain a bit of a rest for once.

There is something to be said about taking the time to smell the roses, of being in the moment, of enjoying where you are at instead of concentrating solely on where you’re going. Multi-tasking robs us of these precious moments and the statistics are coming back in loud and clear: it’s a nasty habit that no one benefits from. So the next time you start thinking about doing 2 things at once try to stop for a moment: take a breath and do just one thing at a time. See if you do it better that way. See how more relaxed you are and how better your work gets.

Start helping others to make this change. I’m hoping we’ll stop trying to multi-task since I never did quite get the hang of trying to listen and hear at the same time. I can’t process two people speaking to me at the same time and I never will figure out how to do so effectively. It usually stresses me out since I can’t choose which one to listen to so I hear none of either of them. Now that I understand the ramifications of trying to do so, I’m okay with never having mastered that “skill,” especially after learning that multi-tasking can lead to sociopathic-type behavior and may contribute to Alzheimer’s. I can do without developing either of those traits. I hope others can too.