Well, count me out. I happen to be one of those people who is happiest when deeply immersed in a project. Psychologists call this state of mind "flow." Being "in flow," can mean being so involved in the activity that you lose your sense of time, forget to eat a meal or fail to hear the doorbell ring.
Most of the time, even when I'm in flow, I'm perfectly capable of coming up for air when a client calls to ask a question or sends an urgent e-mail. (What is difficult for me is to literally shift gears — to get in the car and drive. When my mind is filled with ideas, they become more real than the road in front of me.)
But I think the social imperative of multi-tasking has skewed our priorities. We may believe we are staying ahead of the game by trying to do several things at once, or giving each thing a brief blast of attention. In fact, studies have shown that true multi-tasking is a form of self-delusion. Rather than really doing two things at once, we are constantly toggling between one thing and another.
I suspect that the more fragmented the attention we dole out, the longer it takes to accomplish our goals. And rather than feeling in control — one of the great gifts of being in flow — we are always on the defensive because we can never win the battle against Time.
We would get more things done more satisfyingly if we appreciated the virtues of sustained focus on what we're doing. People would pay more attention to the subtext of what their colleagues and friends are saying, avoiding many misunderstandings. Prioritizing would replace a panicked attempt to do it all. Projects would be completed in a more thoughtful way, with fewer careless errors and increased openness to creative solutions.
Above all, a deeper feeling of achievement and sense of self-worth would suffuse our lives. And that has to be a good thing.
©Cathy Curtis 2010
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