Anyone else suffer from mommy mush brain?I'm convinced that my regular habits of multi-tasking are affecting my overall neuron fire-power.
But that doesn't mean I'm about to stop multi-tasking. Besides making me feel efficient and goal-oriented, multi-tasking enables me to start several tasks during the precious golden moments of overlapping naptime. This time is too precious to waste doing just one task!
In fact, right now I'm not only updating my blog, I'm posting an online test, cooking a ginormous pot of rice, monitoring two email accounts, making a list of questions to ask an instructor, editing my google tasks list, and drinking coffee. Don't ask me how many tabs and windows I currently have open! :) What are you doing right now?
More and more studies are confirming my hunch about the dangers of multi-tasking. If you've got some time, here are a few interesting articles on the subject of multi-tasking (NY Times and NPR). Turns out though I think I'm being more productive the more tasks I juggle, I'm not. The human brain can only fully focus on 1-3 things at a time. Instead I'm causing my brain to just switch rapidly between tasks and losing focus each time I switch. Oopsies. No wonder my natural flow of conversation topics jumps around like an espresso guzzling jackrabbit.
I should amend my multi-tasking ways but even after skimming these articles I'm not sure I'm prepared to make any huge changes. About the only thing I've done thus far is to eliminate listening to music while I work on the computer. Way too distracting.
Have any tips for this unfocused brain of mine?
6 comments:
Go on vacation! ;-) I multi-task a lot, too & often feel like I just get things half-done. But I rationalize that half-done is better than never-started, right? Right now I'm at work, I'm commenting on your blog, reading a magazine & thinking about what else I need to accomplish in the last 45 minutes of this shift. And though I'm not listening to music, I have a song stuck in my head. We're all way too distracted & overstimulated, but what can you do? I hope you get lots done!
Totally mommy mush brain for me and don't have enough left at 9:00 at night to give any suggestions. Gotta' leave what's left to try to figure out how to file an insurance claim for services received over here... As I look at my desk, I see my checkbook which reminds me that I need to organize our Feburary budget expenses into categories, I see my notebook reminding me of homework. I see the insurance forms. I see my two do list. I see a bill that has to be paid tomorrow. There's just so much to think about.
well I can definitely identify! I sometimes like to use overlapping nap time for my own nap, especially on mornings like this when I can barely brew the coffee. :-) Aaron's eating breakfast while I take a few seconds to read blogs; does that count as multi-tasking? LOL.
This week I'm using two sick kiddos as my excuse for brain mush. But I do not kid myself, I know it is just an excuse.
"Espresso guzzling jackrabbit" - that made me laugh outloud and yet wish that was me at times! Great post! I find myself more and more getting overwhelmed thinking about more than maybe two things at once, probably because there is one child singing loudly nothing that makes any sense and the other is whining for whatever reason. I've actually had to stop myself sometimes and ask myself what needs done first and then not allow myself to do anything else until that one thing is done. We probably shouldn't try to multitask so much because either nothing gets done, or everything isn't up to par. Here's to all of us getting at least one thing done right in the day!
WOW! you're worse than I am!:) I love my multi-tasking abilities, although, I will agree that it does something wack-o to the brain, b/c lately, I can't stay on task while I'm multi-tasking! I am also finding the more pertinent information I have in my brain (i.e. all of Ezekiel's medial info and appointments) the less I remember other simple and mundane things. I used to remember EVERYTHING from day to day life--not anymore!!
while you are multi tasking, can you please measure Chloe's head for me???
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