HabitShaper

Many of us do, or attempt to do, several things at the same time. It has been dubbed a skill, this “ability” to move back and forth between handling e-mails, brewing some Earl Grey, designing a website in one window, tweaking Adwords in another, and reading biophysics papers in a third. All the while working through the 10 pages of equations that are still stained from the last cup of tea.

“Do a lot, all at once.” Multi-tasking has become a societal symbol for productivity, wealth, and success.

Why is that?

We have to face the fact that human beings simply cannot think two thoughts at once*. This means that for every task-switch, we have to devote some energy to recalling what we were doing, and deciding on the next step.

This usually results in me standing in the middle of the room, hovering around with a blank stare on my face, wondering what the hell I was doing there in the first place.

More importantly, you never manage to get the solid uninterrupted time that is essential to really get into something. People call this “the zone”. But it applies to more than concentrating on work.

Despite the benefits of focus, we try so hard to do it all at once. I believe these are the two main reasons for this.

1) “Busy is Productive.”

It is natural to confuse motion with action.

But there’s more. When we are running about, photocopying with one hand, faxing with another, and editing the latest draft with a third, it feels good.

I’ve always said that if a great many people do something that is against their physiology (such as trying to do tasks in parallel), it is partly because it is somehow rewarding. It is a challenge, this juggling act you perform. And damn, are you good at it.

2) “Gotta pay the bills!”

If you are working for someone else, doing something you aren’t passionate about, the pressure to appear busy is always greater than or equal to the pressure to be busy. So that feeds into “Busy is Productive”.

And, unless your day job has drained you of a soul, you will have other things you want to do or be. So you must balance both the work that you dislike, and the time you have for other things.

You have to switch back and forth between your work, whatever you’d actually prefer to be doing, as well as family and friends.

This wouldn’t be too bad if it was not for one simple thing: work time is generally fixed. You can’t ever get into “the zone” with anything else. And even if you work for yourself, or on flexible schedules, your spouse and your friends may not.

Without being able to immerse ourselves in any one thing, we forget what being immersed feels like.
When did you last start creating something, and lose all sense of time in the process.
When was the last time you stayed up late into the night, just talking to someone?

We end up substituting solid and uninterrupted time, with scattered fragments of time that never amount to anything meaningful.

We say we spend “quality time”. We say that “quality, not quantity” is what matters.
But for time, quantity is quality.

* I know that our brains work in parallel. But we can’t think consciously in parallel.
At least, I can’t. If you can, I, as well as the neurologists of the world, would be very interested in hearing from you.