Multitasking Will KILL You

T​his title oozes drams, I LOVE IT! It reminds me of the channel TNT and how they know drama. Does that channel still exist? If it’s not streaming, is it real? Perhaps a question for another time.

I​ read this phenomenal post from Pointless Overthinking. Here’s my honest plug for them. It’s a daily post and they hit on anything and everything intellectual. You really should subscribe to the blog! They’re relatively short posts that are easy to sift through and it’s always an enjoyable read.

Check it out here! 

https://pointlessoverthinking.com/2018/12/19/the-downside-of-multitasking-its-much-worse-than-you-think/

After reading this column I was inspired! I wanted to give it a nice little spin as well. Something with the ole Crazy Legs’ touch, you know. 

Raise your hand if you’ve ever tricked yourself into believing that you are killing it with multitasking – I can’t see you, but everyone should have raised their hand. 

I’m guilty of doing it right now – I KNOW! I’m working on it…

Multitasking is so dangerous because it seems like we’re getting so much done. It makes sense; we’re doing twice (or heaven forbid three times) as many things. But if we had someone to watch what we’re doing, or even if we were savagely honest with ourselves, we would see how much longer it takes for us to finish anything and how poor the quality ends up being for each of those things. I’m not saying that Muli-tasking can’t be done the right way. God knows I’ve met a few people that can do it with extreme proficiency. Most of them are Moms. But you my friend – yes, you reading this blog. You are not the exception. 

I can say this with kindness because I am not the exception here. You are special, I absolutely know you can do whatever you want to accomplish, but you will only be making it harder on yourself if you attempt to multi-task your way through life. Think back to last time you tried to juggle three things at once. Even if it was something simple like, 

1. Listen to a song that takes a lot of your attention 

2. Scroll through Instagram responding to comments

3​. Write a blog post on multitasking

I​’m spreading my attention thin! I have a hard time concentrating on what I’m doing and in the end, I will have a shitty product, I just listened to a new song, but I felt stressed because I was thinking about how to respond to that post, or setting up that gig. Hell, confession time – I’ve tried to watch a youtube video while playing a video game while writing a song with a guitar on my lap and responding to emails. What the hell was I trying to do?! Have the most fun anyone has ever had?! How much entertainment can I cram in there? And why? What was I trying to accomplish? I gained nothing and honestly, I stressed myself out. I kept dying in the game, I don’t remember anything from the video I watched, the song was definitely not finished that night and those emails probably rambled on. I mean, I’m focused on this now and I’m still rambling. 

Have you seen someone that has 15 different tabs pulled up on their computer? Their brain has started and has kept thinking and trying to break down the information of 15 different things at once! That’s crazy! No wonder we feel like shit somedays! 

I​’m not saying that these are not great ways to relax, or that you shouldn’t have downtime when you can shut your brain off. You need that daily unwind! What I am advocating is that you allocate time to these activities when you play that game, when you watch that movie or youtube video. ALL YOU DO IS THAT. Don’t respond to a text, don’t think about work, don’t play a game and watch a series on Netflix at the same time. 

Obviously, don’t do it all day. But I promise you can afford not to touch your phone for an hour. Here, I will prove it to you – Are you a doctor getting paged? (What is this the 90’s) No…? Are you a firefighter? Wait, no? Ok, then what the hell is so important that you can’t give yourself 1 out of the 24 hours that you have as a little downtime?

If you were to run from midnight till midnight consistently, your body would eventually shut down, you would not be able to move, I know you probably wouldn’t die, but I love being dramatic, so I’m gonna say YOU WOULD DIE. – This is what your brain does every day. It is what your will does every day. You are taking micro naps with your drive in life and that’s why you hate what you’re doing. You are not giving yourself the rest you require from pushing for what you want in life. A big reason this happens is that you’re not allocating the time towards pure work, or unmitigated pleasure. You have to have both!

Experiment with it for a couple of days. Have the discipline to follow through with an hour of devoting your attention to one form of entertainment. At the end of the hour, put it away and don’t touch it for the rest of the day. 

This is coming from a place where I’m struggling as well! I struggle with this every day, I want to get better at it as well guys!