Guest Opinion: Mindfulness over multitasking
At times, do you feel you’re responsible for making the world spin on its axis?
That report is due next week and your team has not reached consensus, a controversy has arisen in the nonprofit board you chair, tomorrow is “Book Character Day” and the kids need costumes, unanswered emails loom in your inbox, and someone has to make dinner. Even delegating responsibilities is a responsibility.
Perhaps this feeling that everything depends on us is the reason that women so often resort to multitasking: I can get everything done if I do it all at once. Women actually pride themselves on being better at multitasking than men — and they are, according to brain research.
But is multitasking the solution it seems? If you believe brain studies, the answer is no.
No one can actually focus on two things at one time. Instead we are switching our focus between multiple things at a rapid pace. When we are doing it, our IQ drops. Men experience a steeper drop than women — up to 15 points, according to a study at the University of London.
The word for this effect, most often used when a mistake is made as a result, is “distraction.” If you are a train engineer or a surgeon, multitasking at work should be completely out of the question.
I believe brain studies because I accidentally conducted one of my own when I suffered a mild concussion. As I recovered, I noticed which functions came back quickly and which took longer. The last to return was multitasking, in my case answering email while listening to a presentation one day. Although I was back to normal in every other way, the effort was exhausting.
Even that experience did not stop my multitasking ways. It’s so tempting, especially clearing out email while (fill in the blank). Brain biology may explain this too. We get a dopamine boost when we complete a task, no matter how insignificant. This boost is addicting.
No one wants to be an email addict, but back to the original question: How can we do it all if we don’t do a lot of it at the same time? The answer may be as simple — and as challenging — as paying attention.
“Mindfulness” is the trendy word for it, and we hear about it everywhere. I practice yoga and have experienced the calm that comes from focusing on one thing (i.e., not collapsing on the floor in a heap) for an extended period. But I admit to considering mindfulness a luxury because in that context it seems a bit selfish: I’m putting aside my concerns about others (all those things I have to do) and thinking only of what is happening on my mat.
Lately, though, I began to wonder if I have it backwards. What is the “payment” when we pay attention? For me, it’s putting aside my agenda in that moment and focusing on whatever has presented itself — usually another person. Is giving that person my distracted, low IQ, halfhearted self being helpful or harmful? Looking back, I see that the times I’ve made the biggest errors and caused the most regrets are the times I have not paid attention.
Can paying attention reduce our to-do list? In my experience, yes. When I switch my focus to attending to others as they present themselves and away from what I would like to accomplish, I realize that the world keeps spinning without me helping quite so much.
The fact that the team failed to reach consensus may point to the need for a deeper inquiry, making it all the better that I did not step in and force it. A quick call to the executive director of the nonprofit to get the full story may prevent sending multiple emails to the board. The kids may find their own book characters. So what if the costumes consist of a sweatshirt and empty paper towel rolls? If the “interruption” was playing a game at their insistence or comforting a broken heart, they probably won’t care.
Understanding the dangers of multitasking and the rewards of paying attention can help us prioritize more effectively. This may be particularly important for us empty-nesters. Young children force parents to prioritize. A toddler meltdown waits for no man. The advice to talk whenever a teen wants — even if it’s 2 a.m. — is ignored at our peril. When time becomes “our own” again, the siren song of multitasking becomes harder to resist. Fighting against it at 50 may be even more important than at 30, if for no other reason than that nagging feeling that time is running out.
Some multitasking is harmless and efficient. Sewing on a button while listening to the news will have no worse result than a pricked finger. Other tasks are better delayed or left undone until we can give them full attention. While I want to be responsive to clients or colleagues, I have learned the hard way to schedule a call or quick meeting to make sure we are completely focused on high-stakes questions. We all have experienced the frustration of trying to talk with someone who is not listening. All people deserve us to put down that cellphone, take out those ear buds and hear what they are saying.
Despite my understanding of the effectiveness of focusing and the disaster-waiting-to-happen of failing to, I still struggle with it. Maybe that’s because it’s part of a bigger struggle. Arguably our biggest challenge in life is to quiet our ego so we can love our neighbor. Love is messy, unpredictable and doesn’t provide the immediate dopamine boost — or ego boost — that we may be looking for. In the long run, however, I’ll take a strengthened relationship over a clean email inbox.
This awareness does not make the “payment” of attention less costly. But we are not alone in the struggle if we believe in the power of love. After all, that is really what makes the world spin.
Lori Chesser is an attorney and chair of the immigration department at Davis Brown Law Firm in Des Moines. A Business Record Women of Influence and Forty Under 40 recipient, she received the A. Arthur Davis Distinguished Community Leadership Award from the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute in 2015. She also chairs the board of trustees of the American Immigration Council, a Washington, D.C.-based policy and advocacy nonprofit.
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