One Thing at a Time
I've talked before about self-inflicted stress and I strongly believe that multitasking can be a major contributor.
A few weeks ago, I noticed that whenever I'm trying to do a task or I'm waiting for a task to continue, I find myself moving to do something else either simultaneously or to fill the 'waiting gap'.
Examples...
Whilst waiting for a programme to load or a process to complete on my laptop, I would reach for my phone to check emails.
Whilst doing a task, a completely unrelated question might pop into my head and I'll immediately stop and reach for my phone to find the answer.
I might be writing and also have a YouTube video on in the background.
I realised I was hardly ever completely, 100% focused on just one task at a time.
MULTITASKING CULTURE
Society encourages multitaskers - job adverts specify it as a requirement, women are applauded for it but...
it causes our brain to go into stress mode because it's now overprocessing data.
Scientifically, our brain can only focus 100% on one thing at a time.
Introducing another task at the same time splits our focus. Our brain will switch or toggle between tasks really quickly but it isn't doing it simultaneously.
LET THE UNLEARNING BEGIN
If you notice yourself doing this (maybe you did it whilst reading this email 🙂), we need to reframe the act of 'doing nothing' or 'waiting', from meaning we are 'wasting time' or 'being unproductive' to...
I'm pausing
I'm slowing down
I'll take some deep breaths whilst I wait
I'm focusing on one thing at a time, to do it well
Avoiding distraction allows us to remain focused on the task at hand.
It's important to be intentional. I intentionally have to stop myself from trying to do 3 things at once, whether it's work-related or something in the kitchen.
This not only means we naturally complete the task quicker, it also cultivates patience within ourselves and generates less frantic confusion in our mind and body.
It will take time to become a new habit, so we have to give ourselves grace.
With love and light
Gwen x
