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Russell Bishop over at the Huffington Post has an interesting take on multitasking. I like his distinction between multiple goals versus multitasking. He writes:
When you take on a goal, figure out what you have to deliver in order to succeed, and then determine the steps necessary, you must manage the process one step at a time. That doesn’t mean you can’t have multiple goals; however, it does mean that when you are working on one area, you better have your focus there if you want to do well.
Have you ever been on one of those “conference calls” with co-workers? You know the ones – people spread around the country or even the world – inevitably someone poses a question to someone else and the other person has no idea what the question is about? Been there? Maybe you were the one who didn’t know what was up?
How come? Perhaps you decided the call wasn’t that important and so decided to catch up on your email instead. Been there? Even better, ever been on one call and used your cell phone to make a second call? (Mute buttons hide lots of sins).
These days, you can even be in the same room and someone, perhaps most, will be “attending the meeting” while simultaneously answering messages on their Blackberries or leaving the room for a phone call.
What’s up with this? Most people call it multitasking. I call it half-tasking. Half their attention is on one goal, and half their attention is on another.
When someone is busy half-tasking, often both tasks wind up being underperformed. In fact, sometimes the most important reasons for being there get missed.
You should click here and read his entire article though, because it makes you think a little more creativity about this whole issue, that I simply just avoid. Precisely because I do have difficulty chewing gum and walking (or at least boiling water).
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
posted March 26, 2009 at 5:51 pm
I just completed a college course called Learning Framework and in this course it taught us to set many goals after we complete the initial goal. For the matter of, if the subconscious mind doesn’t have a new goal to accomplish it will reiterate what you previosly learned….regardless of what it was negative or positive. If your mind is on the positive it will make a new goal. The other important thing I learned to was that if we set a goal and continue to focus on those goal our subconscious mind will make it to were we make sure that goal is met. I know now that if it is to be it is up to me!!!!!!
posted March 26, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Therese, we must be “sisters under the skin!” I can’t chew gum and drink coffee at the same time, much less WALK!! I’m semi-retired, so don’t have an office and constant distractions. All I have are my emails and phone calls, which makes it easy to accomplish simple goals.
I find that if I focus on the MAIN goal, it becomes easier and I don’t become stressed out. I really FEEL for “working stiffs” who can’t catch a breath on their way to fulfilling 1 goal at a time! Good article; worth thinking about…