Multitasking Is NOT a Virtue

Recently one night, I was sitting in bed reading some nonfiction book while listening to classical music.  Nonfiction makes me think, and I love to think!  But in a momentary gap of attention, I heard the music.  It was beautiful!  Lou Harrison's Elegiac Symphony.  I put down the book and listened.  Then I wondered why I have music on if I'm not listening to it?  Why do I put food in my mouth if I'm not going to taste it.  Why do I take a walk if I'm not going to see what I'm walking through?  Just yesterday I was so excited about my new consulting assignment, thinking of all the great things I can do for the client, that I drove to the place only to realize I had left all my paperwork at home!  Focus, Jannie.  We need focus.

These are the simple examples of multitasking.  In truth we cannot go through our day without multiple things happening at once and shifting our attention from here to there.  We'd be hit by a skateboarder or burn the pancakes if we didn't.  But these occurences do speak to what we are ignorant of and what we choose to focus on.  I can choose to focus on the dust buffaloes in my living room and believe myself to be a poor housekeeper.  Or I can choose to focus on the beautiful paintings on my walls and remember I have a wonderful sense of esthetics.

Things gets worse when we focus on a cell phone, a conversation, and traffic at the same time.  Or rapid fire signals that require our attention.  Our frontal lobe is not designed to take in that much information so fast for a long period of time.  We create adrenaline in response, and over the long haul the result is adrenaline overload leading to adrenaline addiction.  When that happens we cannot concentrate for five seconds in a row.  Our brain is now wired to need more and more stimulation to keep up the adrenaline it is now addicted to.  And once this happens we are in a chronic state of stress.  We feel crazy.  We cannot remember things, write a clear sentence, see where we are going, hear what a child is saying to us.  We become horribly ineffective in anything we choose to do.  Would someone please tell me why we think multitasking is virtue?


Well here's one guess.  From our ego's standpoint, it makes us seem important.  We must be important if we have so much to do!  And so we parade our "have tos" like prizes in some contest.  Here in the southwest of the northeast, we play this game better than anyone.  The joke is it is no fun at all, and life is slipping through our fingers...but we convince ourselves that this stress IS our life...it's just that we don't like this life and desire a different one...but not really because then we'd lose points in the contest...and who signed me up for this anyway?!?!?!

This is why I advocate silence as frequently as possible.  Meditation is one option.  But just sitting on the stairs staring at nothing is another.  We need to rest our brain, get our adrenaline down to a normal level, and work--and live--more mindfully.  In doing so we are more effective in our jobs, our relationships, and in living.  It can be hard to do.  Our brains feel starved when we don't keep the stimulation coming.  But it really does calm down after a while.


One of my clients here for a silent weekend retreat made an entry in the guest book:  When I got here, I really resented having to give up my cell phone.  Two days later, I really resent having to take it back!  A saner life is available to all of us.  We just need to be aware that we and our brain chemistry are not one and the same thing.  We can make different choices about how we use that organ between our ears.   Practice doing one thing at a time throughout the day and see how much better you feel and work.  Now that's a virtue!


Pax tecum.