Why Multitasking is no good for us!

Lets hear what the wonderful Rebecca has to say, Rebecca is one of our contributors and you can find out more about her within our instructor section.

My head was sooooo full!

Have you ever felt that feeling?

That your head is so full you just can’t take in or concentrate on anything else?

This is how I was feeling, in the middle of the first lockdown! I was struggling to get through each week, in the hamster wheel, waiting for the weekend. I was working from home in my corporate job, which is normal for me, but experiencing a massive increase in workload and zoom meetings. Not to mention alerts from emails, messages and so on. As well as many other thoughts going on given the current situation.

I knew I had to do something when my husband innocently asked what we needed from the shops. My head was just so full I couldn’t compute or think about this. I now recognise that I was experiencing overwhelm!

Around the same time, I thankfully attended some online training, where were talking about mindfulness and about our ability to focus and pay attention. I really connected with the information and it made me reflect.

I think we have become a society where multi-tasking is seen as good and normal. You just have to observe yourself at home; watching the TV, you might be scrolling through your phone as well; or eating your lunch and scrolling on your phone. Or perhaps at work; you are working on a document and you have many of notifications pinging here and there – instant messages, email, never mind your phone as well. And with all this going on it is easy to get distracted and side-tracked and focus on whatever has just alerted you, rather than the original task. With all this going on it is easy for the brain to feel full!

But multitasking is actually no good for our brain. We only have one brain, or one processor, unlike a computer that has multiple, so we should only “compute” one thing at a time. Is there any wonder if we try to process multiple things then we get overwhelmed? Just like a computer would if the processor wasn’t fast enough.

As a result of this realisation, I decided to make some changes which have made a big difference. I would really encourage you to try them for yourself. They sound simple, sometimes not easy to implement, but made a big difference to overall how I was feeling, my mood and motivation.

I invite you to try them for yourself.......

1. Turn off your notifications e.g. email, messages, chat and check them when you choose to, and not when they demand your attention. This is especially important when you are in a virtual meeting or have a task to concentrate on. Don’t allow the distractions.

2. Be fully present e.g. so if you are in a virtual meeting, be there. Don’t try to be answering an email at the same time.

3. Give one task your 100% attention e.g. eating your lunch. This applies in your home life as well, notice how much better your sandwich tastes if you concentrate on eating it and not scrolling on your phone at the same time. Or how much you enjoy a film, again if you focus totally on watching it, rather than scrolling and watching!

4. Plan digital time – I have side hustles, so need to make and plan digital content, so I set time aside in my schedule to work on this. Again, giving it my full focus.

5. If you are with a person, focus on them e.g. this could be your other half, children or friend. So if you are with them, focus on them and not your phone! It’s amazing how bad we have become at this

I also demand this from those that I am with!

To find out more about Rebeccca visit her page https://www.facebook.com/wellnessrebeccaanne/