Multitasking Is Destroying My Life
About a month ago, I realized I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t just sit be still. I couldn’t stop stressing out about tasks that needed to be done.
I couldn’t turn my brain off.
There was no way to make myself stop jumping from one thing to the next – laundry, dishes, housework, countless tasks at work, calls that needed to be made, texts & emails that needed to be sent, planning dinner, scheduling time to hangout with people – I would get halfway done with one thing and remember I “needed” to jump to another thing. My to-do list was growing faster than I could complete it, and some stuff came up so quickly that it never made it onto the to-do list in the first place.
Stress was threatening to consume my life – I felt like no matter what I did, I was always running 100 miles per hour.
If I was cooking, I might as well be checking work messages and listening to a podcast at the same time. If I was on a work meeting, I might as well be responding to emails or doing research for something my husband and I were looking into purchasing. If I was talking to someone on the phone, why not also do some Amazon shopping? If I CAN be doing 3 things at once, why wouldn’t I?
The issue reached a breaking point when I sat down on the couch, closed my eyes, and tried to pray, but it was impossible for me to connect with God… because my mind was in a constant state of multitasking.
My husband, Erik, has mentioned before he wanted to get a little better at multitasking, and I recently decided I needed to get better at NOT multitasking 😀
There is apparently no such thing as true “multitasking.” It is physically impossible for your brain to focus 100% on 2 things at the same time. You can split it 50/50, but you can’t get 200% of focus from only 100% of available brain space. So by definition, human beings CANNOT focus on more than one high-level brain-functioning activity at the same time. The more tasks you attempt to do at one time, the less quality you will have in performing those tasks. However, you CAN perform 2 low-level brain functioning activities at the same time, since they don’t require all of your brain power to complete.
The multitasking in my life had gotten so out of hand that I literally could not turn it off. Resisting the urge to multitask took (and continues to take) so much effort. There was constant noise in my mind, and I never gave myself a break. It was causing me to be more irritable, less peaceful, stressed out (more often than usual), and most concerningly, creating distance in my relationship with God.
Once I realized what was going on, I decided that enough was enough. It happened to be a Friday, and a pretty busy day. Even though it was incredibly hard, I forced myself to only do ONE THING at a time (2 things were permissible as long as they weren’t high-level). So if I was on a work meeting, there was no checking my phone, no responding to support tickets for work…. nothing but paying attention, contributing to the meeting, and taking notes.
When I took a break from work to eat lunch, I turned off notifications and refused to look at my phone or computer while cooking and listening to worship music (I allowed myself to do those 2 things at the same time).
I followed through on tasks without bouncing from tab to tab (and therefore task to task) on my computer. Because one of my issues was getting partway through a task for work, then bouncing to another, then another, then back to the first one, answering a work message, then bouncing back to the second task, etc. As a result, I felt like I had been busy all day and gotten nothing done (and that’s exactly what had happened) – leaving me frustrated, exhausted, and unfulfilled.
I stopped checking my phone constantly while hanging out with friends or talking to people. Relationships are of a high value to me, so it’s not worth only doing them half-heartedly. My phone can wait….my text messages don’t need an immediate response most of the time! 🙂
In all of my busyness, I never seemed to have time to meditate on God’s word and let Him be a part of my every day life. My soul was craving rest, less distractions, and more awareness. Doing less things at one time frees up my mind and heart to hear God’s voice more clearly, it lifts my spirits, fills my heart with joy, and makes me a more effective co-worker, friend, and wife <3 Surprisingly, this actually made me more efficient in my work. I actually got MORE work done in my job and around the house, and I am no better able to mentally prioritize what’s important and what isn’t.
To be honest, it was also a humbling reminder that even if I THINK I can do it all, I really can’t. I only have so much time in my day…so many hours at my disposal… Every time I rely on my own strength, I’m going to fail. The exercise of refusing to multitask is, for me, a daily decision. And sometimes I slip back into it by accident, but I’ve decided I never want to sacrifice quality for the sake of quantity when it comes to the important stuff in life, so I’m asking God to help me in my quest to limit multitasking 🙂
So in a world where phones constantly buzz, alarms always ring, to-do lists keep piling up, and life keeps demanding more of you…
Slow down. Set your priorities and stick to them. And focus on ONE high-level activity at a time.
This isn’t an excuse to be lazy, but an opportunity for you to reject the lie that busyness equals importance.
Make your moments count 🙂
Until next time,
Hope Frances Anderson
Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash
