This week officially kicks off the holiday season, and you know what that means. No matter how prepared we think we are (or not), we’re all going to be busier than ever! And for some of us, the end-of-year stretch may be extra challenging...
Lately, I’ve had to face a hard, highly inconvenient truth: I am not a multi-tasker.
I may not be the best single-tasker, either. Believe me, I do my pathetic best to juggle. But I’ll never be one of those virtuous people who plan dinner dates 5 months in advance. Or color-code their lengthy to-do lists and zip all the way through them while I’m still trying to decipher the personalized license plate ahead of me in the Dunkin drive-thru. (I took this one as a good sign, since it’s the name of the town in my Irish Bed & Breakfast Mysteries):
Do I hate those uber-organized overachievers? YES.
Okay, that’s not true. Many of those same people are good friends of mine. They’re always sympathetic and do a good job of hiding their pity whenever I whine or beg them to share their secrets. They try to help me mend my scattered ways. “Just focus,” they say. “You can do it. Tune everything else out. Avoid the news. Don’t even look at your phone. Block the Internet while you’re writing. It’s not that hard. Really.”
I’m always psyched up after those cheerleading sessions. I have the best of intentions. But I’m back to square zero before my second iced tea. That’s why, after my latest organizational failure, I vowed I’d change my ways for real. I’d become a champion multitasker.
Everyone is busy these days, especially at the holidays. Most authors I know have jobs and kids and parents and pets to take care of. They bake (beautifully) and clean and promo their books and volunteer and hit the gym. And somehow, they manage to keep their fingers flying over the keyboard and get their manuscripts in on time. Do I qualify for special dispensation? Sadly, no.
I decided to waste a bit more brain bandwidth researching how to become a model of efficiency. I found plenty of helpful articles. But guess what? Technically, there is no such thing as multitasking. The brain can only handle one task at a time. In fact, some researchers claim that our minds can actually explode (okay, slight exaggeration: deteriorate) over time from cognitive fragmentation overload. (Not sure exactly what that means, but I’m assuming it translates to a term my mom and her friends used to whisper in the 60s: “nervous breakdown.”)
But there are ways to work around that single-tasking thing. You can work on making your brain work faster in switching between tasks. And if you pair a challenging task (say, writing a book) with a less difficult one (listening to music), it can work out okay for some people. Agatha Christie famously claimed she did her best book plotting while doing the dishes. If it’s good enough for Agatha, it works for me! (One of us Chicks is famous for plotting while scooping dog poop.)
Anyway, the most important thing I took away from my “research”—and real-life experience–is that Stress is Bad. If you’re frazzled with worry about getting everything done at once, your productivity nosedives. (I already knew that. But it bears repeating.)
Nutrition and hydration are important, I also learned. So go ahead, have that extra cookie and fourth coffee. Breaks are a must, and so is setting your intention for each new task (“I will write 10,000 words before breakfast.”). Be sure to move around a lot, too. Dance around the kitchen to your Spotify faves. When you return, there’s a good chance you’ll have a solution for any problem (or pesky plot point), because you’ll have a whole new angle. Or at least you’ll feel healthier.
Even with the best of tips, intentions and efforts, I may never be a multitasking queen. (I have a Hallmark Christmas movie on in the background as I’m typing this—does that count?) But hey, I’m staying positive. No matter how busy or stressful the holiday season gets, you can always count on a little magic!
Readers, can you balance multiple projects at once? Or are you more of a single project enthusiast?
Chicks on the Case 
All good advice, Lisa. Reading this made me define multitasking for myself. I am in that I have multiple things going on at the same time. That’s why I’m a passionate list maker. A college friend who moved into my apartment bedroom after I graduated said she was still finding lists I’d made six months after I moved. But I cannot do two things simultaneously unless one is totally mindless. (Yes, I’m the dog poop plotter!) That only works because my mind is free to wander. You’ll never find me working at a coffee shop, though, or listening to music when I write. Hmm… I guess for me there’s a difference between multitasking and split focus.
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Well, one thing is for sure: We always have multiple tasks to complete! There’s never a completely “done.”
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Thanks for the tips, Lisa! I tend to like to-do lists–but probably because it reminds me of all the stuff I’ve forgotten to do!
I can’t multi-task; I can’t even read two books in the same period of time (unless, possibly, one of them is non-fiction).
But my younger kiddo swears that she can multi-task; she’s the one always listening to music when doing homework, or watching a movie while solving math equations. I’m not so sure it’s actually working, though…
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I think I always believed I was multi-tasking like your daughter, Jen. Not sure whether I realized I wasn’t, or that I was no longer good at it, lol.
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I’m a single tasker, and proud of it. You interrupt me, and I have to get back into the groove of where I was. But leave me alone, and I will finish what I was working on and be ready for the next task that much faster.
We treat single tasking as if it is bad. It’s just more focus to make sure we do it right the first time. Neither is bad in and of themselves as long as the outcome is quality at the end.
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Excellent point, Mark! I’m not sure when multi-tasking seemed to become a goal (or virtue).
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Count me as one of those who can only do one thing at a time. To wit: I was the only lawyer at my firm who kept her office door closed, because if I heard any talking out in the hall, I’d focus on that instead of my work. And I need absolute silence to write–no music, no TV in the background.
But I’m also a dedicated list-maker, and when I step away from one project, I slide easily into another. And how satisfying is it to scratch off one of those items when I’m finished! (Am I the only one who will write down a task I forgot to include in my list even though I just completed it, simply for the satisfaction of scratching it off?)
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I had a long comment written, but once again, WordPress slapped me down! But I’m like you Leslie. One thing at a time.
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I’m another who will add an already-completed task to a list, just so I can scratch it off. Perhaps it’s genetic. Did you ever see Mom or Dad do that? I don’t think I ever did.
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I never saw them do it, but Robin does it, too!
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Maybe it’s a Virgo thing, then!
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Ha!
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I confess to having absolutely done that very same thing, Leslie! It’s so satisfying.
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hestia here,
I don’t know if I’m a multi tasker or not! I can do more than one project at a time, it unless I am organized with to do lists in front of me, I can’t do it. That’s why I have trouble at work, because I have to be dealing with 6 different projects for 6 different people all at the same time. I tend to forget one or two. “Oh, btw, what am I supposed to be doing for you?”
so I guess I’m a multi tasker when I choose to be?
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Ha, works for me, Hestia!
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Stress is Very Bad.
People call me a multi-tasker, but I disagree. I work one task at a time. It’s just that every task has it’s time. When it’s time to write, I don’t do anything else.
Or at least I try not to.
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Yes! You go, Liz!
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No, I’m not good at multi-tasking, only one project at a time, that’s why I’m still skeptical if I’ll listen well to the audiobooks – I’m not sure if I can listen to the books and do chores at the same time…
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My first audio book recently came out and I was able to do it!
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Can I be a serial single-tasker? My job necessitates quiiiiiiick pivots, not just from project to project but client to client–which means switching voices at the drop of a deadline. Duo Lingo should give me a break for all of these linguistic quick-changes.
That being said, I do like to have a bit o’ time with each task so I can “remember” the voice and get into character, so to speak.
My tip for checking things off the list: mad panic. Works like a charm. Until it doesn’t.
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Total multi-tasker here. Not saying I’m good at it…it’s just how my brain works. I’m like one of those tiny fish who starts swimming in one direction and suddenly darts elsewhere for no reason that anyone can see and maybe doesn’t even know themselves. So I start a bunch of projects at the same time and swerve between them or do them simultaneously. Sigh. Also a to-do-list maker and user though!
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