Multi-tasking is second nature to many of us and has practically become a survival skill that we display with pride in the busy, hectic world we’ve created for ourselves.

This morning my second client call ran on longer than expected. After I had written up my notes, I switched on my links to the outside world – outlook, skype and twitter – and a short time later, found myself having one of those surreal and lucid moments when it feels like you are watching yourself doing something ridiculous and need to stop.

I was composing 3 email replies, replying to messages I’d received on twitter and exchanging instant messages with someone on Skype. Although I was, to my mind, not compromising the quality of what I was doing, it was frankly a pain in the rear.

My mind would get a jolt as I flicked between the windows, having to re-familairise itself with what was going on in that particular frame. And it took me longer to actually finish and send those emails than if I’d just focused on them one at a time.

I mentioned this on twitter and @JeffreyGuterman, Assistant Professor of Counseling at Barry University, replied that he believes that following through on one thing at a time is more productive. He also pointed me to a very interesting article on How Does Multi-tasking Affect Memory?

Sometimes we need to multi-task simply because we have to get lots done. Other times, we do it out of habit or because we don’t realise that we do have other options.

The perils when multi-tasking spirals out of control

Our mind is forced to store information wherever it can

Multi-tasking splits our attention. As we flit from one task to another, our mind is forced to quickly store information wherever it can. Because it hasn’t been stored “properly” it becomes harder to retrieve later. Basically, if you think of the mind like a computer, multi-tasking causes fragmentation.

But unlike a computer, we don’t have a defragmentation button to press to slot everything back in its rightful place. We end up getting stressed. We forget things, do rush jobs, are short to people and lose sight of the real reason that we started doing that task anyway. It becomes hard to prioritise something when we are flitting back and forth so much and so quickly that the reason for the task is not registering properly. We’re doing things “blind”.

We get a false sense of what’s important to us

Because we’re not being terribly mindful to each activity, we lose sight of our values as we judge ourselves by the quantity of what we do rather than the quality.

You put the blackberry next to your plate at dinner, mull over whether or not you’ve given your secretary all the information she needs to prepare that presentation, barely taste the meal that you’re eating and give half an ear to your son’s excitement (or distress) over something that happened at school.

It makes us ill

As we continue to do a hundred things at once, the stress builds up causing emotional, physical and hormonal disruptions in our body. As well as picking up bad habits like not making time to exercise or eat well, we can suffer migraines, panic attacks, low self-esteem, rage and a whole host of other symptoms.

We need to be busy because boredom too is dangerous. But we don’t need to busy ourselves in a way that suffocates our potential.

It suffocates our potential

Our body puts up with a lot from us and copes remarkably well considering all the pressure we put ourselves under with toxic thoughts, un-met values,  “artificial” ingredients in food and chemicals we rub into our skin.

But for long-term good health and well-being, our mind really does need space to relieve itself from this pressure.

Ultimately, every single one of us is a spiritual being in that we all feel a specialness inside ourselves that is unique to us. This specialness is unstoppable,  it’s like a seedling and its intrinsic nature is to grow and express itself.

“Blind” multi-tasking suffocates this specialness. It doesn’t stop it but it does stunt its growth. And this results in one of the unhappiest things we can do to ourselves – live a pretend-busy life built on pretend-priorities based on pretend-values.

What is your experience of multi-tasking?

Photo Credit: svilen001