Multi-tasking: Clever Skill or Mind-muddling Inefficiency?

A Superior Approach?

It has often been suggested that women are better at multi-tasking than men. That may or may not be the case, but beneath that suggestion lies the implication that multi-tasking is a superior way of going about things. To be clear, I'm talking about human multi-tasking here, the ability of someone to perform more than one task at the same time.

Whether men or women are better at it is not the issue here. I'm interested in discussing which approach is best. Do multi-taskers just become Jacks of all Trades producing mediocre results, running themselves ragged in the process? Or is it better to be a single-tasker, someone who takes on one job at a time and finishes it to perfection?

Individual Approaches

In many household partnerships, there is one of each, a multi-tasker and a single-tasker. In my household, it just so happens that I am the multi-tasking half of the relationship. My husband takes the one-job-at-a-time approach. It can be irritating when he spends a whole day doing one thing, and leaves me to manage all the other mundane stuff that needs doing around the place. On the other hand, I know that he will do the job properly, much better than I would.

The Heart of the Matter

The fact is, I've brought up four children, run a home, worked full time and had part time jobs simultaneously. I even managed (selfishly) a university course. I couldn't have done all this without the ability to juggle lots of balls in the air at once. What's more, I've got better at multi-tasking as I've got older.

Now when I say better at it, what I mean is, I'm better at doing more jobs simultaneously. The problem is, the more I try to do, the more slapdash I get. And as I'm getting older, even though my family has now grown up and I've got more time, I can't get out of the habit. To add to all this, I seem to be getting worse. I'm flitting around like a butterfly, cramming more and more in, and getting sloppier and sloppier.

Timescale Versus Quality

The thing about multi-tasking is when you take on several jobs at once you have to make a trade-off between the amount of time and effort you allocate to each job and the quality of the outcome. For example, I might choose to flick a duster around rather than do a full polish because I'm in the middle of throwing a meal together and I have to pick so-and-so up from somewhere in half an hour. I might say to myself, I'll do a proper polish tomorrow. What I tend to find though is that 'tomorrow' never comes, because the next day brings a whole range of new multi-tasking challenges.

When a major job needs doing that requires time and attention, I have to make a real effort to pin myself down and focus on it, but all the while, my mind is wandering, thinking about all the other things I need to do, and I have trouble concentrating on the job in hand. With a mighty effort of self-discipline, I might complete the job, but I will have rushed through it and taken short-cuts. If it's polishing, there will without doubt be more than a few smears here and there.

This Isn't Fun

I don't enjoy being like this. What a luxury it would be not to be distracted by all the other things that need doing. I can't have been born this way, because at some time in the distant past I can remember being totally absorbed in my work, so immersed in it that the rest of the world was blissfully excluded. I can recall that wonderful feeling of pride and fulfilment that comes with a job well done. I want to experience that again.

The reason I started thinking about this was because of a conversation I had with my granddaughter recently. Although the conversation was not about multi-tasking specifically, it made me stop and think about the way I approach things.

Clever or Not So Clever?

I was in the kitchen as usual, multi-tasking to my heart's content. Some of you will know the routine; the one where you rustle up the family meal, do the dishes, sort out the latest family crisis, blah, blah, blah, all simultaneously.

As I was pirouetting around the kitchen table, en route from freezer to microwave, my granddaughter came in from the lounge and announced that the TV wasn't working. With choreographic dexterity to avoid stepping on our elderly cat, I deftly changed course, turned off all running taps, put my bubbling concoctions on simmer, and went off and fixed the telly.

Returning in double quick time, I teased, "There, don't you think Nanny's clever?" Expecting an unqualified 'yes', what I actually got was, "Well, you're quite clever."

Feeling slightly miffed, I managed to maintain an even vocal tone. What, I enquired, did she mean by quite clever? Then she dropped the bombshell. "Well, granddad's cleverer."

Well Indeed!

Now don't get me wrong. My husband is clever. No doubt about it. But he's not a multi-tasker like I am. Intellectually, we're pretty much on a par, but as far as the home is concerned, I'm the one who is running around like a mad thing keeping things ticking over. My husband will do a very worthy and necessary job like sit on the lawn mower all afternoon and will not be distracted. The finished result will be magnificent. There will be nice up and down stripes and the grass will be cut all the way up to and around the bottom of the tree trunks. But if it was left to him, the family wouldn't eat that day.

When my husband is not at home, I mow the lawn. I will not spend a whole afternoon doing it. I might chainsaw a few logs as well and get the dinner going. There will not be nice stripes all over the lawn and I will have missed bits here and there, but it will do. I will not have time to stack the logs I've cut in a neat pile as I've got to nip round the circuit with the dogs, but I can do that another day when I get a moment. The meal will be basic, but the family will get fed.

What People Say

When my husband mows the lawn people say, doesn't that look nice? Isn't your husband clever? He's made a lovely job of that.

When I mow the lawn, chop the wood, walk the dogs and cook the dinner, nobody says anything.

The Consequences

My husband is invariably calm and unruffled, rarely diverts from his chosen course, produces quality outcomes in most things he does, and has time to stop and talk to people. He comes across as an organised, clever person; a nice chap. He gets all the accolades.

I, on the other hand, am often worried and stressed, totally unable to sit still for more than five minutes at a time, my outcomes are make-do, less spectacular or unseen, and I'm too busy to spare time for idle conversation. I portray an image of chaos and disorganisation; a scatty, distracted old dear. I get no appreciation.

Conclusion

Well, I've managed to talk myself into thinking that I've been doing it wrong all these years. If it was admiration that I wanted, I've gone about it all the wrong way. My granddaughter was absolutely spot on. My husband is much cleverer than I am! He had it worked out right from the start. I'm just too slow on the uptake. Well, at least I've got that clear in my head now.

The thing is I didn't do it all for admiration. It would be nice to be appreciated, but I did not become a multi-tasker to gain accolades. I did what I needed to do to keep a busy household ticking over, earn money, and support my family. I needed those multi-tasking skills then.

What I need to do now is step back a bit. My family has grown up. I don't have to rush at things at breakneck speed anymore. I can approach life more calmly and learn to enjoy it again without worrying about what I have to do next. I will re-educate myself in the art of single-tasking; rediscover that glorious feeling of satisfaction in a job well done.

A New Dawn

From now on then, it's just one thing at a time, slowly but steadily. I'll just concentrate on the big jobs, the things I want to do, and push everything else out of my mind. As for the boring, mundane, essential household tasks, like cleaning the toilets and clearing up the cat pooh, I wonder who's going to do them.

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