Here I sit writing to you in the middle of a multitasking week from Hell. Not to long ago I took great pride in my skills as a ‘multi-tasker’. In fact I used to refer to myself as the quintessential “Queen of Multitasking”. Those days are over! I don’t think anyone is a good multi-tasker.
Funny thing is I’m not alone in my conclusions. Earl Miller, a Picower professor of neuroscience at MIT, says……..
………”People can’t multitask very well, and when people say they can, they’re deluding themselves,” and “The brain is very good at deluding itself.”[i]
Science will always set you free!!! According to Earl if we pride ourselves on our multitasking skills we are “delusional”.
Earl goes on to explain, “Our minds are incapable of “doing” two things at once”.
Seems to me what some of us are proficient at is stop & switch. This stop & switch action creates the illusion of multitasking which scientists refer to as “delusion”.
Ironically Earl and I are not related…..at least not to my knowledge. But once I read the above quotes about multi-tasking research our kinship of mind was solidified.
Earl Miller, Professor of Neuroscience
Gina Miller, aka Multi-tasker
In order to perfect the ole stop & switch you have to be SUPER organized, know your limits and be capable of delegating. IME (in my experience) the majority of self proclaimed multi-taskers are also micro-managers.
Now introduce a micro-managing-self proclaimed multi-tasking wizard-egomaniac type into the mix and sit back and watch the proverbial manure hit the fan. Welcome to my aforementioned work week from Hell .
Especially if the said MMSPMTWE type ^ is not organized and thinks he/she is capable of doing everything better than everyone else on the team or planet and finds it necessary to blow up your VM, text messages and emails with all their nit picking edits and suggestions!
Aaaah, I feel better now.
Lucky for me I’m super organized which allows me to “Stop & Switch” rather quickly. Those who know me can attest to how often they hear me say, “Wait one minute please I can only work on one thing at a time”.
And if I’m in the “creative zone” you may not even receive an acknowledgement that I heard you, because my brain shuts down the outside world to allow me to focus on the task at hand.
Great news…..I am normal. Neuroscience backs this phenomena up with MRI scans of the brain taken while subjects switch from one task to another.[i]
So the answer for me is clear…multitasking is DISRUPTIVE!
What do you think?
Happy Homemaker 