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The original was posted on /r/getmotivated by /u/mayankgupta1802 on 2023-12-28 13:20:12+00:00.
Have you ever tried adding coffee to noodles? Or dipped Pizza slices in orange juice? Never ever, I suppose. At least not deliberately, it might have been accidental.
Yes, these combinations sound strange. They indeed are! Because these food items are meant to be separate. You can have one at a time, not together.
For me - these combinations are strange too - looking at your phone or doing something in parallel during a meeting. Responding to emails and chats and notifications during a presentation. Trying to code on the breakfast table. These activities are also meant to be separate, not mixed.
My advice - Stop living in the illusion of ‘parallel’ multi-tasking. Stop these parallel activities, and motivate yourself to focus on one task at a time! Be it at workplace, or in your personal life.
This illusion of multitasking at workplace only adds to chaos. You feel that you are being more productive, by working on tasks in parallel. But in reality, it only adds to more confusion, stress and an uncanny sense of urgency. You will finish the tasks in almost the same time irrespective of whether you do that in parallel, or one-at-a-time.
Note that I am NOT saying that everything has to be sequential. There are some tasks which can be done in parallel. But don’t force yourself into multitasking where it doesn’t make sense.
Let’s take an example. During that 45 mins presentation, you successfully replied to those 45 emails and chat messages, thereby achieving twice the productivity. WRONG! I can bet that you didn’t understand half of what was presented, and you are under-confident in half of those responses - did you really respond appropriately or you made a mistake? And you go back and review some of those. Maybe you make corrections. In total, did you really achieve anything? Think again!
The same applies at your home. Do you take bath while having your breakfast? Do you watch your favourite TV show while driving car? Then why do you talk to your spouse, or play with your kids, while your eyes are submerged in the phone screen? Don’t they deserve your undivided attention? They DO…
Next time you are pouring coffee on noodles, or dipping pizza slice in orange juice - think again.