You can multi-do, but can you multi-think?

Posted by on Feb 10, 2013

For the next 10 seconds, picture a pine tree swaying side to side in a gentle breeze. See it in your mind.

Now picture a junk yard full of wrecked vehicles. They’re smashed into towers of rusted metal. You can see that too, right?

Now try to see both images at the same time. Keep trying.

Not so easy, eh? For those of us who have one brain, it’s impossible.

At best, we can switch our thoughts from one image to another. But that’s not the same as having two trains of thought running on the same track at the same time.

The fact is, whether we’re talking about pine trees or junk yards or work-related data or a customer issue or that latest team project, we can consciously apply our ample brainpower to only one thing at a time.

So when it comes to multi-tasking, we can multi-do but we can’t multi-think. We can stay in motion, but it won’t be informed motion.

This isn’t a problem when you multi-task on easy activities that call for little if any thinking. Go ahead and juggle to your heart’s content.

But when your work calls for creativity or analysis or logic or evaluation or empathy or awareness or pretty much anything else where brainpower matters, opt for single-tasking.

Your mind will serve you better, your results will be greater, and you will ultimately get more done more quickly.

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By Tom TerezContact