Yesterday, I read a survey that claimed that one in five British people sometimes brush their teeth while having a shower. According to the survey 7% do it every day.

Multitasking. We all do it to some extent, even if it’s only by breathing and reading, or walking and talking at the same time – but in these cases, we still have focus on one task while the other is done without thought – a “background” or “autopilot” task, if you will. And yes, sometime people have no choice but to multitask between ”foreground” tasks – watch a hard-pressed waiter in a busy restaurant, or a mother trying to cook and look after 2 young children at the same time. In recent decades, however, multitasking seems to have become something akin to a religion amongst a large number of people, and I don’t just mean the young.

In Michael Foley’s excellent book “The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to Be Happy”, the author cites several examples of extreme multitasking, like people working out at the gym while trying to listen to music and watch tennis on the TV at the same time. When I was a lecturer, I despaired at students who thought they could have music in one ear and field endless text messages while taking in what I was trying to teach them; when I managed IT projects, however, some of the most productive software developers I managed were those with the laser-like concentration on their main task, while the multi-taskers flitted between writing code, answering emails, chatting, fielding text calls and checking the latest football scores, and often produced very little, except a very long timesheet at the end of the week to mask their low productivity. Study after study has shown that most office-based multi-taking is less efficient than doing tasks sequentially –  I am not surprised.

So why are so many people obsessed with multitasking, when it creates a lot of stress and reducing productivity? Force of habit, peer pressure, “fear of missing out”? I don’t know, but I have found that not only does eliminating unnecessary multitasking reduce my stress levels and make me more productive - and a lot less prone to errors -  but also that I enjoy some things a lot more when I give them my undivided attention. Turning off my mobile phone and focussing completely on a film on TV, doing some tough logic puzzles or reading a book for an hour or so without a break – all of these are amongst my regular pleasures.

I don’t take this approach to extremes  - I like having music on while I’m cooking or doing housework, and I do enjoy some conversation with my dinner. But I’m very glad to have rediscovered the joys of single tasking in today’s manic world. 

Oh, and it’s also worth adding that brushing your teeth in the shower probably isn’t a good idea anyway. Have a look at this article https://www.healthdigest.com/1829966/why-you-should-never-brush-teeth-in-shower/ 

Oldie But Goldie

A Moodscope member