Multi-Tasking Causes Stress
Some time ago, I began reading Alex Lickerman’s blog. It’s interesting to read about the philosophy and outlook of a man who is actively practising Buddhism. And occasionally (more often than not), I find in his posts a touchstone — one of those universal truths that transcends religious creed and just is true.
Today’s post contains one such thought. Writing about achieving balance in one’s life, Dr. Lickerman takes a moment to talk about multi-tasking. And he echoes what I, and many others with me, have discovered independently about multi-tasking: Great idea, but it doesn’t work out in practise the way you’d think. I’ve written about this before.
While all three of Dr. Lickerman’s points about multi-tasking (that it impairs future recall, risks poor performance, and prevents enjoyment of the present) are valid points, it’s the third that I want to focus on today.
Multitasking prevents you from enjoying what you’re doing while you’re doing it. Enjoyment also requires our full attention ….
I have found this to be both true, and a source of tremendous frustration. I used to pride myself on being able to cook dinner, talk on the phone, “watch” the news, and mind the baby. But the fact is that I missed most of the news and a lot of the conversation simply because I was busy trying to keep baby from getting hurt or making too much noise, or tending to food.
I missed so much of my kids’ early years because I was distracted trying to maintain a clean and efficient home, hold together a failing (and abusive) marriage, bring in extra money with freelance editing and teaching CPR, nurture friendships, etc., etc., and so on, and so forth.
I’ve also noticed the truth of this idea in my work life. When I am able to focus totally on one task, I can complete it quickly and without error. But let it be a day when I’m interrupted incessantly by phone calls, colleagues with questions, guests to greet, new projects being handed off and explained to me, and other normal work-day flow, and I will find myself making careless errors and getting more and more frustrated — I begin to feel like a soda bottle that’s being violently shaken, as if there is pressure inside me that is going to make me explode if I can’t find a releases valve somewhere. Those are the days that my Facebook friends are liable to see a status update like “I have GOT to get out of here and break some boards at lunch!” And, oddly, breaking boards helps. (Probably because it redirects my focus. If you don’t focus when you’re breaking an inch of board, you’re not gonna break the board. But you might break you.)
In fact, I’ve learned a lot about my discomfort with multitasking from karate. I’ve learned that I simply cannot learn more than one kata at a time. My mind conflates them all together and I end up confused and frustrated. I’ve learned that I have to consciously make the decision to tune out everything except my instructor if I’m going to learn something new.
I’ve learned that I don’t learn well in the abstract … for example, one of my newest kata is the defending side of a two-person kata — what my Sensei calls a “choreographed fight.” I really struggled with the sequence of moves until Sensei started actually doing the attacking side against me while I defended. Then it fell into place. I think it’s because learning rote sequences of moves is multitasking. You are making your brain try to remember your sequence of moves while also trying to visualize what your opponent would be doing. Take away the need to visualize, and I learn the sequence much more quickly. And, to get back to Dr. Lickerman’s point, I also enjoy the form more. I can relax into it, rather than working so hard to visualize and remember. My attention is focused, not on the form itself, but on what my opponent is doing … so that the response becomes almost instinctive.
I can’t remember where I read it, but in my study of Judaism, I came across a prohibition against studying or reading while eating. As I recall, the idea was that not focusing on the food and the enjoyment of eating was disrespectful to God who provided the food, to the chef who prepared the food, and to the life that was sacrificed to be your food.
So many pop culture references come to mind in support of this idea that multitasking is not the best way to live:
- Yoda telling Obi-Wan Kenobi that the biggest problem with young Luke Skywalker was “All his life he has looked away… to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing. “
- The seventh point in the Code of Dinotopia: “Do one thing at a time.”
- The Buddhist concept of mindfulness
Multitasking leads to dissatisfaction, disorder, and disharmony of body, soul, and spirit — that is, it leads to stress. Focus, concentration, mindfulness … whatever you call “doing one thing at a time” … restores balance and makes it possible for you to enjoy to the fullest each thing that you choose to do.