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Nevada, Missouri ~ Monday, October 13, 2008
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The multi-tasking queen
Posted Monday, February 4, 2008, at 11:01 AM
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I have recently heard that multi-tasking actually makes a person less effective. Some research shows that multi-tasking can overwhelm the body and mind with stress hormones.

I whole-heartedly disagree.

I would not make it through the day if I did not multi-task. I guess I'm one of the people it does not adversely affect.

In fact, just this morning was a perfect example. I had two very important goals, resolutions if you will, with the turn of this year. I was going to work out and spend daily time in Bible study, preferably in the morning.

I have been better about reading the Word everyday, thanks to a yearly Bible reading plan passed out by my church, Faith Christian Center, but it's usually at night right before I go to bed. I like to start the day with Scripture. It helps me remained focused on God throughout the day and I tend to stay positive.

And by the time I get home, get dinner fixed, spend some time with my family and clean up, I don't really feel like hopping on the stair stepper.

So this morning, I did both! I fixed Cainan breakfast and sat him down in front of his favorite cartoon with his sippy cup and I tiptoed off to the bedroom where I grabbed my husband's Bible and hopped on the stair stepper for 10 minutes. I figured some is better than nothing. Then I hopped off, changed Cainan's diaper and came back to do some stomach crunches.

It felt great! I was energized and felt like I had already accomplished quite a bit in a small amount of time. I got the blood to pumping and got a spiritual message to start my day.

Of course, more often than not, I multi-task all day at work. And when I get home, I am amazed at what I can accomplish with a toddler on my hip. Ten minutes worth of dish washing or laundry folding makes a huge difference and doesn't make me feel like I have spent my whole night cleaning. I can get some dishes washed while we are making dinner and then spend the after dinner time with my son and husband. I can wash a load of laundry while we are playing and have enough hot water to give Cainan a bath. I think the only time I'm not actually multi-tasking is when I'm sleeping.

It's nice to slow down once and again and smell the roses and do just one thing at a time, but if I did everything that way, I would be overwhelmed with stress hormones.


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You're right. I save hours every day by multi-tasking. I think the less effective multi-tasking has to do with all the technology we use to make ourselves "more effecient". I recently read this article, Don't Be Overwhelmed by Technology" in Reader's Digest. This is an interesting quote from that article:

"The Multitasker Myth:

It's one of the digital revolution's most annoying buzzwords: multitasking. It means doing more than one thing at the same time. Almost invariably, it means doing at least one of them poorly.

"Human beings can handle two simple, low-level cognitive tasks at once, like filing and listening to the radio," says Dr. Hallowell. But a higher-level cognitive task (reading a report) takes dedicated brainpower to perform optimally. Adding even a simplistic activity (scanning the TV) diminishes the comprehension and recall of both. Research shows that multitasking is just a series of constant microinterruptions and stop-starts, all of which tend to reduce mental and motor performance.

"I had one patient who was a lawyer, and he negotiated an unbelievable deal that favored his client in a lopsided way," Dr. Hallowell says. "I asked him how he did it, and he said, 'I was the only one in the meeting who wasn't using my BlackBerry.' "

-- Posted by supernaturally on Tue, Feb 5, 2008, at 9:23 AM


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