Multitasking: The Task of Many Tasks

It's really true that we hardly ever do things one at a time. We rarely give our full attention to one single detail, job, or task. When we do things we have a lot of other things going on. The simplest tasks of the day, like walking, are almost always interrupted by little things like checking your phone or eating. Even more, we do our jobs or homework while doing dozens of others. It seems to boil down to the fact we just don't have the time. We are so consumed with life and all its responsibilities that we almost have to do things simultaneously. As we talked about in class this week, we love to do things all at once and no one is the exception. Even after all of the research that proves the hazardousness of multitasking, we do it anyway. People think that those who don't must have all the time in the world, myself included. After realizing how much I multitask, I decide to check myself and make sure that I was putting my all into everything I did. So for the last few days, I have been trying my hardest to not multitask. For this little experiment, I made sure to leave my phone in another room while I did homework. I ate dinner without TV and walked without my phone. I wanted to see what it was like to have zero, or close to zero, distractions in my daily life. It was difficult for the first day because I do almost everything with my phone near. After the last few days, I feel freer. I feel like my anxiety was lower about my school work and life in general. My homework and papers were finished quickly and honestly the best work I have probably done. I felt like I was being productive and doing really well. I was able to focus more clearly, despite the urges to check my phone. That part did make me sad. The fact that I felt true anxiety to not have my phone near. The takeaway for me was that focusing my mind makes me better in every way. I am able to feel calm while I write a paper or walk to class looking up at the beauty of campus. I feel like the little things mean more, as dramatic as it sounds. I think I will continue this as best as I can because I feel that my mind and body will thank me. I learned for myself that multitasking is "possible" but those tasks are completely poorly. I hope that others would try it as well and maybe learn something about themselves and their work too.