UNI-TASKING

There was a craze, and I imagine that this comes back from time to time, about multi-tasking some years ago.  Productivity was the name of the game and multi-tasking was the skill that would elevate productivity to new heights.  People striving for success were told that they must become proficient at doing multiple tasks at the same time.  How did, or does, this work for you if you happen to be someone who practiced, or still does practice, multi-tasking?  In my experience, not so well.

I found that completing tasks while multi-tasking didn’t elevate me to the status of productivity wizard.  What it did do was make whatever project I was working on into mediocre products and the more I was trying to juggle the more average the final product became.  On a side note, maybe this is why we are getting such lazy news reporting as reporters are trying to bang out as many stories as possible.  Just keep pushing them out, who cares about facts as long as we are producing!  I digress, do employers, or supervisors, want mediocre products to sell to the consumer?  I think not.

As it turns out, the human mind is not designed to perform multiple tasks at the same time.  Even when you think you are multitasking, what really is happening is your mind is switching from one task to the other potentially blurring the two separate jobs creating confusion and blurring the details.  Hence, average to less than average products.  Superior productivity and superior products comes from a person’s full attention to one task at a time.

As well as helping us create better products in the work place, focusing on one task at a time will benefit us in our personal lives and relationships.  I’m going to call it uni-tasking, performing on task at a time.  By show of hands, who’s been frustrated by a friend you were trying to have a conversation with and they split their attention with you with their phone?  In been such an everyday occurrence to do multiple things at once that uni-tasking will have to be relearned.  I also think that learning how to focus on one thing at a time will improve happiness and enjoyment of experiences. 

As for me, I am going to make a conscious effort to focus on one thing at a time.  To focus on my loved ones as we have meaningful conversations.  I am going to put my phone down when I watch an entertaining show.  Keep my electronics in my pocket as I walk through the forest.  I’m going to pay attention to the details as I create memories with family, friends, and co-workers.  What better way to show someone how much they mean to you than to give them you undivided attention.

Take It Easy!