Stop Multitasking, Single Tasking Does Not Mean Unproductive!

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As far as I can remember when it comes to mothers and productivity, there is almost always the phrase "mothers must be able to multitask". Is multitasking effective?

As mothers, we feel very busy. Especially when there are children, how come the brain feels like it keeps on working. At one time, there was just something to think about. Have you ever heard of the “greatness” of women, which is a common assumption, about how women during sex can still think about electricity bills, unwashed dishes, and many other things?

Nope, it turns out that after I did a single task in the past year, multitasking wasn't great at all.

Multitasking, whether doing everything at the same time or thinking about one thing while we are doing other things, can be a sign that we are not productive. Working while watching a drama split-screen, for example, the work is not optimal because it lacks focus

Or most often, play with children while scrolling Instagram. So playing with children or sitting together? If you play together, you definitely can't do anything else.

Multitasking makes our brains think many things at the same time. Multitasking makes us stop doing one thing and focus on other things so that in the end one job is slower to finish because it is distracted by other things.

Multitasking is not only inefficient but also stressful. It feels like we have a lot of work to do at the same time. Even though it's impossible. Work, while chatting follow up, while calling. When will the work be finished then?

So make a to-do list and do it one by one, focus on one thing until it's finished, and then move on to do something else. Yes until it's finished, in the end, our goal is to finish the job, right? Not starting with a lot but finishing just a little?

Uniquely, single-tasking turns out to be more difficult 😂. Single-tasking forces us to focus and not be easily distracted. Exercise patience and it turns out it's hard if you don't force it.

What I do when I start to get distracted or think about other things while doing something is usually inhale, exhale. "Okay, I'm sweeping the floor, thinking about the dinner menu first" or "okay, I'm playing with my child, there's no need to think about washing dishes first".

Because we think about it now, what can we do other than fill our brains? Focusing on one thing (mindful) makes us calmer and less stressed. How can we stop multitasking?

  1. Have a clear daily to-do list and working hours.
  2. Get enough sleep, and eat nutritiously.
  3. Reduce distraction, keep the phone away. Learn to say no if you don't have time.
  4. Turn off unnecessary notifications. Comments on Instagram don't need to be answered right away. I mute all notifications and fully believe that the most urgent calls will be.
  5. Remember to breathe, sometimes breath becomes something we forget even though it can draw us back to focus on what we are doing now.

So let's try single-tasking. It will seem that our work is not as heavy and as much as when we try to do everything at once.

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