Better than Multi-Tasking

Catch yourself when you get distracted! Notice when you "are all over the place." Everybody seems to do it but there is a better way. Getting this right can reduce anxiety, lower anger, and build up a sense of peaceful confidence. 
Humans are marvelously complex. But we can only handle so much. Learn a simple means to be a better person, and get some relief from the tide that seems to want to wash you away. 

This episode from the archives is a powerful summary of key concepts in being more focused and balanced in life.

Transcript

I had been at a job for a while doing the same thing as everyone around me. Then I got a chance to supervise a small team of people. This was the training I got before I started: Multiple points of attention they said. That’s how my boss described being a manager to me. They were saying that a manager can’t just pay attention to one thing, the manager has to oversee many things. I would have to deal with multiple points of attention.

Does that sound familiar? Isn’t that the way you experience life? You have multiple points of attention. Many needs and interests are screaming for your attention, and you jump from thought to thought, interest to interest, commitment to commitment trying to manage it all. Old TV variety shows had those performers who would start plates spinning atop poles and get as many as they could spinning all at once. The trick was to do this without any of them falling to the ground and breaking. Or picture a juggler who starts with just a few balls, then adds more and more until there are multiple balls in the air. The objective is to keep them in the air without falling, taking them down by choice, not by accident. 

The mind is bent toward jumping from attention point to other attention points. Especially the attention deficit mind, which seems more common than ever. But let’s be honest, we are all attention deficit to some extent these days. Quick, short, exciting stimuli bites are all around us on our phones, on TV and elsewhere. We have been programmed to be impatient with the slow, to get bored quickly with anything that doesn’t engage with the loud, violent, and stimulating. 

I learned a fascinating fact a few years ago. I understand that when a brain is scanned for neurological activity, there is more activity when focused on one thing intently than when there are multiple points of attention. So, when we are “multi-tasking” we bring less of our brain resources to the tasks at hand than when we “single task.” The idea that we get a lot more done when we work on several things at once is brought into question. If you like a lot of stimulation, and most of us do, we may tell ourselves we are getting more done when we are “keeping a lot of balls in the air.” But the quality of what we do and the effectiveness of what we do is better when we choose one thing at a time, do it well, then move on. 

Maybe you have a Ph.D. If you don’t, maybe you don’t know that a Ph.D. thesis is an intensive study of a limited problem. Some doctor degrees, like a medical doctor, require a broad scope of learning. Someone with a Ph.D. is seen as a highly trained expert, but they are truly expert in only a limited area. Any broader knowledge they have is learned outside the process of their doctoral thesis, because they choose a specific, very limited issue, study and write about it in depth. Though the focus is limited, practicing study at that level of intensity is something Ph.D.’s take with them through their lives. They can apply that level of inquiry and intensity to other projects. Like them, we can learn from choosing to do one thing at a time, like giving full attention to the present moment. When we do, we help ourselves.

Even as I write this I was tempted, and gave in, to pick up my phone and read the latest news headlines. When I do, then my focus is diluted and distracted. I’m transported to a war on the other side of the earth, to some outlandish political story, or maybe to a tragedy in my own city. It is not wrong to stay informed about the news, but it is not helpful to consume it like candy. Repeated periodic doses of any stimulation lowers your ability to concentrate, it increases the likelihood that news items and stories about even friends and family will upset you. The anxiety grows and the ability to handle the anxiety decreases. Only changing the behavior of feeding this “multiple points of attention” monster will increase resilience and calm. 

In other words, regular practice of focus on one thing at a time can bring calm and inner strength. The world is going to spin, and many things will continue to scream out for your attention. But you can take breaks from the craziness in ways that will help you. 

Try this with me: Get comfortable in whatever position you are at this time. If you can sit and be still, great. If not, you can still try this. Take a minute to notice any tension in your body and relax. Imagine being outside your thoughts and observing yourself. At whatever level possible focus intently on the sounds in the place where you are. You may also notice feeling your clothes on your body, and the pressure of your weight where your body is right now. Other thoughts may come and go, but work to notice the layers of sounds around you, and the feelings of warmth, cool, gentle touch, or tightness you feel. Stay there for a while. Just be aware. Don’t judge whether this feeling or that is good or bad. It just is for the moment. 

If you are praying person, this can be a time of asking God for help with focus, naming the distractions and asking God to hold them for you. This can be moments of worship, of oneness with the creation and creator.