My head is clogged, my plate is full, and all I can do is think about Kaarina Dillabough. She’s the one who said that multitasking is no tasking; that means I’m not concentrating when I sit on a conference call muted and empty my in box, tweet, or find a blog post to read. She suggests that brain power should focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking schmultitasking.
There’s a law firm in San Francisco that agrees with this statement. GJEL Accident Attorneys* works its mojo to inform anyone about the dangers of distracted driving from texting, mobile devices, and the DVD player on the front console (that’s my Highlander).
I already nicely disagreed, well vehemently disagreed, with Kaarina; there’s absolutely no flippin’ way I’m able to do nothing on a dead conference call. Maybe I can clean my desk and contribute uh-huh every now and again; I’m listening, but doing nothing is a time waste.
That’s why I have to tweet a webinar when I’m on one; I can type in real time, so I capture 95 percent of what’s being said and I can paraphrase well, too, for a tweet. Is that stupid multitasking? Or, is that fruitful social media for clients who want to see their name in lights? Not sure.
Maybe we need to look at that personality thing; and, no, I didn’t say personality disorder. I know my friend Jenn Whinnem (whose birthday is today, mind you) will pipe in and call me a letter. And, my other friend Gin Blossom will say we’re the same person and that’s why we’re both type A PR (that’s agency public relations or you can read it the way you started to).
So, I’m gonna ask y’all – is multitasking bad in all circumstances? I will absolutely agree that I can’t define multitasking as checking the crackberry during a meal; that’s just plain rudeness, unless…OK, that’s just plain rudeness.
I think I’m on to something…we can blame multitasking on the digital age. I have no solution for that because as I sit here yakking about my inability to focus on one thing at a time, someone is launching a new app I need to check out and there’s a tweet in my box that just arrived, and I just heard the chimes of a text message roll in, and let’s not forget the lovely sweet sound of kidlet just waking up on the first day of summer.
Is multitasking bad all the time?
(*client)/Image by Crystalinks.com
Okay…I’m with Kaarina on this one. I’m thinking of job descriptions where they ask for “multitasking.” What I think it really means is “we need to be able to interrupt you as often as possible, and you’ll still do everything you were originally doing.”
Thanks for the bday wishes, crazy lady! I’m off to the beach soon!
Don’t get sunburned; you’re white. Happy Birdie!
Happy birthday!
thank you sir!
Ok – I’m a multitasker, I admit it. Though, I’m beginning to wonder if I do it to my peril. I check email on my phone, for instance, and then forget to reply when I’m on my computer. Then, a few days go by, and I realized I never responded. ACK!
I agree – bad conference calls practically demand you do something else, say straighten up your office. But, I’m sure some very smart people like Seth Godin would say “why are you even on the call at all if it’s not productive?” He may have a point.
So, I guess my answer is, it depends. If it helps (or just adds fuel to the fire), here’s an awesome post I read from Men with Pens that discusses this very topic: https://menwithpens.ca/10-business-time-savers/
Ah, Laura, to each her or his own:)
I do love the Multitasking reference in the Men with Pens post that says, “If that conference call requires so little of your attention that you can return emails at the same time, why are you on it?” I concur.
I’ll also add another link, https://bit.ly/gmcIFY by Diana Adams that provides evidence of the downside of multitasking – “Multitasking – This is Your Brain on Social Media.”
I’m a sequential unitasker through and through, but as I said…to each her or his own. One of the great things about blogging and commenting is our ability to respectfully disagree or agree: it’s the spice of life:) Cheers! Kaarina
I’ve been known to mess up like that, too. I liken that to sensory overload; see, there’s an explanation for everything!
P.S. Jayme, I do LOVE the photo: hilarious!
Actually, there was a study a while back–which I have quoted to all my kids’ teachers–which found that we often are only using half our brain in meetings, conference calls in the like. It found that people like me who fidget, sketch, or maybe do some semi-mindless task on the computer during the meeting actually absorb more than many of those who don’t multi-task. The reason is that the meeting/lecture isn’t taking your full attention, and if you aren’t filling the rest of your mind with some activity, then you are more likely to daydream or for your mind to drift and stop hearing the people talking.
I was so happy to hear this, as I ALWAYS fidget, sketch, etc. during meetings and classes, and I know people often think I’m not paying attention. But I am.https://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1887486,00.html
Oh, man. I love you, Neicole, for helping me with this. How to explain that I absolutely must be doing something to use brain power to its fullest extent. I am aware when there’s overload and stop when I’m half paying attention. But, to the point of others who say “then why are you on that non-productive call?” I HAVE to be! May as well get something done that doesn’t require as much attention.
I think I’m on to something…balancing the multi-tasking with mindless work like deleting old emails while listening to content on a call works. If I were to write a blog post while trying to participate on a call, that doesn’t. Hmm…whaddya think?
Oh, I definitely do things while doing things…I’ll share later what I mean. Lately though I can’t focus and it’s been troublesome.
The sketching, Neicole! A couple months ago, I was at a team meeting in person after about a year of just phone convos and emails, and my manager was recounting to me before it started how “you always used to doodle in the margin of your notepad,” not noticing the flower I’d already started until I lifted it to show her…
G’Day Jayme,
I wrote a blog post about multitasking last month. It’s a much overrated concept. And it’s not new. I had a business partner in the 1980s who prided himself on his capacity to multitask. It was true that he could do many things at the same time. Regrettably he rarely got anything actually done!
Unlike juggling, the trick isn’t how many balls you can keep in the air: it’s the value of the ones that you drop.
Don’t blame the digital age. Blame the silly buggers of any age who don’t know what their priorities are.
Make sure you have fun.
Regards
Leon
“Unlike juggling, the trick isn’t how many balls you can keep in the air: it’s the value of the ones that you drop.” That’s golden, Leon, thanks for the reminder.
I’m definitely with Kaarina in spirit, but definitely with Jayme in practice. Don’t know if you saw my comment over at Kaarina’s, but it sums up my state of mind daily, the back-and-forth-back-and-forth-back-and-forth little two-step dance (or is it three-step? four?). I’m listening, yes, but I’m drafting in my head, and then I switch windows to email (nothing), Twitter (not much), and back to the report I think I can knock out while I’m listening, switching windows, and tweeting, lol. Edit some, and then I have to “contribute to the discussion” so I tune in, then back out, and–there should be an email from Blank by now (nothing) or a response to my tweet (no) and back to the report (great, the button I clicked to submit to the next step didn’t go through, so I have to wait another minute–holding my breath–is there another email while this is loading up?).
In a word, it’s adrenaline, and it gets me through my day, but I gotta rein it in.
You’re probably better at it than me, though.
Not all the time and I think a lot of it depends on the task at hand. However, once I start going off and multi-tasking it seems I have 3-4 unfinished projects; maybe a little farther down the road than before but also maybe more mistakes and errors than I would care for. But yes, I’m guilty as well and I probably can’t make myself change. Especially in this crazy blogosphere it seems I am playing catch up all the time anyway.
So if I came out w/ the talking video, then you are doing to do the singing one next, right? I would destroy my community if I sang on anything.
I hope your day went well.
I think, in the example of a conference call, you can do mindless things like clean your desk. I’ve found that it’s better for me to have staff and client meetings in the conference room or at my conference table in my office, away from my computers (yes, plural), or I’m not 100% present. I turn my email off for two or three hour chunks every day. It takes away from my focus. We have an open door policy, but my team also knows I can’t always be interrupted. So I tend to lean closer to Kaarina’s POV, but also see there is a need to do other things, especially when you’re bored.
Yeah, what Gini said. If I’m not taken away from stuff I’m not 100% present. And when I need to write, I need to FOCUS. If I get interrupted during thinking I am not happy.
OMG! We were just talking about this the other day. It’s REALLY hard for me to get things done during the day because I’m like you, I need to focus. But, when you run a business and have people in and out all day, it’s really hard to focus. We’re trying to figure out how I can have an open door policy, but also some time to think, without closing my door. Because, every time I close my door, people freak out that’s something is going on. Typically that’s not the case; I just need time to think. Still haven’t figured out the magical answer.
OMG! We were just talking about this the other day. It’s REALLY hard for me to get things done during the day because I’m like you, I need to focus. But, when you run a business and have people in and out all day, it’s really hard to focus. We’re trying to figure out how I can have an open door policy, but also some time to think, without closing my door. Because, every time I close my door, people freak out that’s something is going on. Typically that’s not the case; I just need time to think. Still haven’t figured out the magical answer.
ME TOO!