Just Say No To Multitasking

We should create a war on multitasking, just as the government created a war on drugs in the 1980s. When it comes to multitasking, just… say… no.

I know, I know… It feels like I’m taking away one of your superpowers. But multitasking is NOT a superpower. In fact, it’s super ineffective.

As parents, we are expert multitaskers, because we are forced into doing it the minute that our baby is born.

We nurse with one hand and answer emails with the other. We carry a baby around in one arm and make dinner with the other. We have a conversation with a friend while watching our toddler out of the corner of our eyes. We redirect our toddler’s actions in the middle of telling our friend about our promotion at work.

With young children, multitasking is the way of life, but it’s not meant to be that way forever. As quickly as we can, we must move on from that ineffective behavior and way of thinking into a more focused approach. Because here’s the thing: study after study after study proves that multitasking is not effective.

Your brain can only perform one cognitive function at a time. The constant switching from one task to the other lowers your IQ by 10 points! Comparatively, actually toking ganja lowers your IQ by only 5 points. So, as the University of London shared in a CNN World Report, multitasking “makes you dumber than being stoned.”

Instead of multitasking, let’s look at a mindful way to approach time management from Deepak Chopra who says, “We don’t need better time management; we need a new state of mind.”

When speaking about time management, he says to imagine that our life is grouped into 7 buckets:

😴 Sleep
🧘‍♀️ Meditation
🏃‍♀️ Exercise
🌮 Eating
💻 Work
👩‍👧 Family Time
🎨 Creativity/Personal

The trick then is to contribute to only one bucket at a time. No multitasking. No hopping between buckets. Instead, do only one.

When it’s work time, work. When it’s exercise time, shut off your phone notifications and exercise. When it’s eating time, mindfully relish each bite. When it’s family time, put away your laptop or yoga mat.

You get the picture. Focus on one bucket and give it your all. You will accomplish way more and life will feel so much better if you give every part of your life 100% of your energy and focus, rather than scattering it around with 75% here, 15% there.

Do. Only. One.

An example of how this has made a difference for me is that I stopped checking my work email at stop lights.

Work email is obviously in the work bucket. Most of the time in my car, however, is either the family bucket (driving to and from school, family outings, or running errands together) or the personal bucket (commuting anywhere by myself, the time when I usually listen to an audio book or online course, or jam out to gansta’ rap or 80s rock to decompress).

I found that when I combined buckets and checked my work email in my car at stoplights, I’d want to respond and address the email, but didn’t have the time or space to do so, which would leave me feeling frustrated, stressed, and distracted. My mind would be on my clients or solving work challenges rather than giggling and present with my family.

My email app is now on the fourth screen of my phone in a folder titled, “Stay Away, Sara!!!!” so I have to make an effort and swipe three times just to get there. I considered deleting it altogether but haven’t gotten to that level of super-power productivity yet!

Why read an email if you can’t properly respond to it? It pulls our energy, focus, and presence in too many directions, which makes us less efficient and exhausts our brain. This is why I don’t check email or social media at night time during family and dinner time either. (I have to put my phone in another room or it’s too easy for me to fail at this.)

When my oldest son was four, he said to me, “Mom, if we can’t have our iPads in the car, why do you get to have your phone in the car?” I started to argue that my phone is my work and my way to stay connected. But as kids, their iPads are their “work” and their way to stay connected. I can’t set and hold a boundary for my children if I am not willing to also hold it for myself.

Lots of love and #haveitall,
💜 Your Coach,
Sara

P.S. If you haven’t already, download our free time management guide titled ‘Your Time Management Guidebook For Productivity, Balance & Freedom’ HERE to learn how to make the most out of your most precious time, and life.