Much has been written about multi tasking. Women seem particularly good at it, but wisdom lately seems to point to the folly of seeing just how much one can balance in a single day .
The ability to multi task demands a combination of personality and circumstances. For some, the more things they have to juggle, the more energized they become. Im not saying that they handle things better, but they certainly revel in seeing how well they can pack it all in. The trouble is, like all multi-taskers, eventually the person crashes gets sick, turns grumpy, becomes careless. There always seems to be a price to pay for over multi extending oneself, and it is difficult to determine how close one is to the edge. Its like how your computers work or dont work. No one knows when it will happen, but suddenly your Word document is overloaded to the point of paralysis and with no warning your screen is suddenly blank.
The biggest problem with multi tasking is that it allows each of us to tackle the tasks instead of the big picture. I was once watching a television show about someone who decided to write a book. His wife asked about his progress and he replied, Oh I havent started yet, he replied, First I need to get new pencils and lots of them, then I need some paper .
We all start out with dreams and big ideas. Then life happens, and between families and jobs, opportunities for multitasking crowd out everything else. The years go by and suddenly the big dreams have vanished into agendas, Blackberries, and endless to-do list that we make, check off, then start again.
Dont throw out the agendas and the lists believe me, Im keeping mine. But know when to put them aside. Just because you can do ten things at once doesnt mean you have to. And if you must make that list, decide what to omit in order to give yourself a little more time for to grow, to plan, to think and recharge.