The Day I Learned The Art of Single-Tasking From An Unexpected Person

Me walking around in my neighbourhood trying to be as much in the present moment as possible.

A wise person once said: “Multitasking is simply failing at many things at the same time”, and I agree. We live in a society that has wrongly given us the impression that multitasking is efficient. Think about all the times you have read in job ads that the employer is searching for the ultimate candidate who can keep “many balls in the air” at the same time. This has led to an illusion that the ability to multitask is a desired trait that shows our efficiency. It couldn’t be further away from the truth since our brain, in reality, is only capable of focusing on one thing at the same time.

I remember a day when I worked at Google. I had fallen for the illusion that multitasking was desired so at the same time as I was researching a legal case, I was also writing an email, answering chat messages, and listening to a presentation in my headphones (reading, writing, AND listening simultaneously!). After all, multitasking meant efficiency, right? 

After my burnouts, I have realized that the ability to single-task is actually a SKILL in our modern society where the DEFAULT is multitasking. Where getting our attention is so rare that it has become the highest currency in the world of social media - and we daily give it away unconsciously. Perhaps it’s time to turn this around by taking back control of where our attention goes?

So how to master single-tasking? Meditation is one way to practice it by focusing on, for example, our breath. When our mind wanders off, we bring the focus back to the breath, and this way we slowly rewire our busy brain by developing an awareness of our stimuli overload.

The Pomodoro technique is another one: Set a timer for 25 minutes and focus on one task only. Then take a 5-minute break, before restarting the timer for another 25 minutes of focus work. 

I have tried many techniques to practice the art of single-tasking, but I needed an aha-moment to finally “get it”. It was a Monday evening and my partner Nicolas was cooking food. I suddenly caught myself watching him standing still next to the stove doing nothing (or so I thought). HE WAS SIMPLY JUST WATCHING THE PASTA WATER BOIL! But instead of being annoyed with him because of all the things that I would, in my “efficient” multitasking mode, spend my time on if I had 14 minutes to spare (doing laundry, cleaning, setting the table, etc), I turned it around: What can this situation teach me? WHY do I even want to rush through life? Why not do ONE thing MINDFULLY instead of running around doing many things half-stressed and, to be frank, LESS efficient?

Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon - and we need to adjust small things in our everyday lives that will train our brains to be aware of our split-focus default mode -- and practice to be fully present in the present moment. Because life only happens in the here and now, so if we miss the NOW, we miss LIFE. 😇