Multi-tasking
 

Please note this post is my personal view.


I think the "ability" to multi-task is over-rated. Not every job or every assignment is best handled in this way is it? I think a huge amount of quality and efficiency is being lost by people not managing one thing at a time. Working on four projects all due at the same time is not necessarily better than working on each one individually until completion and having each one turned in a week at a time. I am thinking quality is often being sacrificed and truly time saving is not the reward because you have to push back the date on 3 projects further than need be to juggle all four.

I surely understand some positions require you to be able to juggle a variety of tasks but should this apply to everything??? Is there no value in finishing something started in the timeliest fashion and having given it your completely undivided attention. I just wonder if we are not creating a work environment that encourages distractions, interruptions, and paying cursory attention to many things at once. As someone who teaches students with ADD/ADHD I find this a diturbing trend. I spend a lot of time trying to teach students to concentrate on tasks and complete them but maybe I am leading them astray from future work expectations.

Any thoughts?

In todays digital world multi-tasking is a sign of the times. Watch a TV show in HD, discuss it on the Internet and listen to the sound track in stereo on your DVD player. Is it to much to fast?????

I don't multi-task as much as I "perform in a tubulent environment". That is, I need to be able to focus on completing the task at hand, but part of that might involve completing secondary tasks along the way and also not letting interuptions derail me from finishing.

In my opinion, incorporating attention to detail and focus into your teaching methods is a priority. I don't see it proactive to show kids how to spread themselves too thin...we all learn it soon enough as it is.

I can't keep my thoughts on one project let alone several. *headspin*

BTW...Until I got to the end of your post, I thought you were referring to how I'm able to cup my balls and finger my asshole while masturbating. :D

WI is that like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time?

No...it's much better than that!


Significantly messier as well. lmfao

Bonjour Jacques!

Lilith,

Couldn't agree more! I'm sure that it is valuable in some situations to be able to perform more than one concurrent task acceptably. I also think that in others it is more important to prioritize one task above another - or even above all others.

Some people just arent born with the ability to multi task

The reason i do it is because i get distracted and wander off on another path...then wander back to the original task...depending on the time frame of the original task i could do that many times

I still usually give the original task my best while i'm doing it......i just find i get frustrated if forced to concentrate on the same thing for too long...so i move around the 'collection' of tasks...i eventually get them done on time....just in a round about way *LOL*

I find the only way for me to eat a pack of jackals is to treat them as one elephant. Working with a graphic timeline (like a Gantt chart) is a good tool for me to keep them connected even when the ear doesn’t look like the tail. Regardless of the size or shape of the elephant, it’s eaten one bit at a time, even when it a four course meal.

I think it all depneds on the job at hand when I was cooking you couldn't just do one thing at a time or half the food would be cold by the time evrything was done. It also depends on the task at hand some require your full attention while others don't take your full attention. The trick is learning which one are which.

As I get older, I find that context switching is getting harder and harder for me. I try to align my day into small segments where I can focus myself on ONE task at hand and do it well, then move onto the next segment.

Of course...reality sometimes sets in and I find that I have to reprioritize and often speed up the multi-tasking. So I think it's a valuable ability to be able to "roll with the punches"...but in order to get true valuable work done, it's often necessary to focus.

Did I vascillate enough for you, Lil? :D

*wonders if theres a video of this somewhere?* ;)

In my job, I have to multitask (we dream of a monotasking environment).

Some tasks are a little more highly rated than others, but all need completion within a timeframe.

These can't be done one at a time because they are linked to physical processes.