Multi-Multi-Tasking!?
It has been a bit of a crazy day over here in WALand one for me that was filled with a day that was as about as diverse as they come.
I got a ping (Google Talk message) from someone today and I took 10 minutes to get back to them (which is rare in my world if I am around) and I had to say this...
Sorry, I am multi-multi-tasking right now!
But what did this mean.
Well, I did a quick count on my screen and I had 23 tabs (see my set-up below) opened in my browser across three different screens. 13 of these were open documents that I am working on, some were bug related, some were social entities, several email accounts, image editing, online radio...the list went on.
Since when did life become so "unfocused" yet so productive at the same time. Where did I fall of the track of being able to do one thing at a time without trying to tackle the world all at once.
I think it is a byproduct of where we are heading with Wealthy Affiliate to be honest with you. We are very focused towards an unbelievable platform and service and sometimes it can capture our entire interest, in a diversified manner...where we don't want to miss a single heartbeat or idea that comes into the internal idea engine.
BUT...I have to be completely honest.
There is no such thing as multi-tasking on a computer. You can only actual be working (in focus) at one thing at a time. You can shift focus as frequent as you like, but to finish a singular task, you need to dedicate focus on that exact task, not many.
Me personally, I work well under multi-task pressure, but sometimes it can get overwhelming as it did today. After I realized the mess that was across my computer screens, I decided to close them all and work on ONE thing for the next hour.
Guess how productive I was? VERY!
I just want this to be a reminder to myself as well as others, if you are feeling like you are being stretched thin and that your time and resources are being maximized causing internal pressure (to the point of combustion), then stop what you are doing and focus on ONE THING. Focus on the most imminent task...the thing that needs to get done now.
Productivity will go up and it will give your neurons a rest!
PS. Exciting times ahead for everyone here at WA. I can assure you of that! :)
Working online is of its nature, multitasking in that one has so many emails, comments and responses to provide, technical issues to address, material to be written, programs to design, and it goes on and on. The only way to do anything well or to get anything done, is to do one thing at a time. I agree.
Can you just imagine how hard it is for people with ADD? And if you're compulsive, it's really hard.
Interesting what you say about ADD and OCD, Having worked with people who have had both conditions over many years - I have a view but probably not the place to get into a discussion about it,
While it was a bit difficult to have to put my sites on the backburner, and concentrate on other tasks, I have since may loads of progress which I otherwise wouldn't have done if I kept tying to function at the original status quo.
We are only human and we can truly only handle so many things at once and the hardest part is admitting to ourselves that a chnage needs to be made.
Great post btw :-)
Glad you caught this before it was too late, often times people continue to struggle without address the real root of the problem. Large project multi-tasking is much more difficult to handle!
These days you need to be able to connect with others throughout the day while you are working and most of us have several tasks on our plate at once and having them all open is perhaps a subtle reminder of what needs to get done. Less productive if you try to do all at once, but maybe more actually gets done if you acknowledge your actual work load.
