Yes, despite popular belief, I encourage all of my “doers” and “go-getters” to stop the madness!
Multitasking might be considered a great skill to show off especially during an interview or business meeting with someone but the reality is, you are doing yourself a disservice. How? It’s simple.
If you are doing more than one thing at the same time (perhaps maybe 6 things at a time) you will not succeed in accomplishing all of the things effectively or efficiently.
You will find yourself quickly trying to remember the order of your tasks in a very robotic fashion. STOP!
Let me share a little scenario with you as a mutual “doer”. One day in the kitchen, I thought I was maximizing my time in the morning by washing dishes, feeding my pup, making my coffee and filling the water filter all at the same time (how?!). As I am rushing to get all things accomplished, I ended up putting my coffee creamer into the water filter and filling the dog bowl with soap instead of food! Yikes!
Being the critic I am to myself (still a work in progress) I couldn't believe what I had done. I said to myself, all of these tasks are so freaking simple! How could I have screwed this up?! I’ll tell you how- by not truly pausing in the action of “the doing” and getting more caught up with my idea of being “productive”- major FAIL!
I totally missed being in the moment (aka mindfulness). Now I know we’ve heard this word a lot, but it’s a skill that requires practice my friends.
So before you decide to reply to an email your coworker sent you and talk on the phone at the same time, while also texting remember to pause and do ONE THING at a time. Eventually, you’ll end up kicking yourself in the head for sending an email to your colleague that was meant to be shared with your friend on the phone!
So next time you find yourself in a pickle- Try this:
While engaging in one thing at a time, think about what brings you joy in that one thing. For example, if I go back to my scenario, I can solely focus on the action of washing the dishes, how the sound of the water brings me calmness, how I’m blessed to have dishes to eat off of and how I never noticed that cool pattern on the plate that I’m washing.
This will take time, patience, and presence. You can and will- perspective is everything!