"Fully Present, Fully Satisfied": Ditch Multitasking & Embrace a Calmer, More Fulfilling Life
- May 6, 2024
- 1 min read
Confessions of a ‘recovering’ multi-tasker.
Multi-tasking is an illusion; an utter fallacy. Worse, it’s destructive to building and sustaining resilience.
Multi-tasking is really about doing individual actions in rapid succession, sometimes moving back and forth as if we're in some sort of waking REM state.
Attempting to multi-task decreases our ability to learn, lowers the quality of our decisions, and increases the likelihood that we'll make mistakes.
I've double-booked appointments, made errors in simple math, and answered questions that weren't asked, all while trying to do too many things at once.
Which brings me to work-life balance. Is 'balance' what we’re really looking for? I know people who are wildly 'out of balance', yet who are also deeply satisfied.
I think what we really want is WORK-LIFE SATISFACTION. For me, regardless of how jammed my calendar is, I can be satisfied and calm if I'm fully present to what's in front of me.
One activity at a time.
Fully engaged in the moment.
Being fully present is damn difficult by the way. Yet I find it to be the key to feeling ‘whole’. Over time, with practice, it's become easier to let the distractions fall away.
Try it out for yourself and see if you feel more 'balanced'.
Want to learn more?
This really resonates with me honestly. We live in a world that glorifies doing ten things at once but the peace that comes from being fully present in a single moment is something else entirely. Slowing down has made such a difference in my own life. It even made me appreciate long form reading again. There are so many thoughtful voices out there and book publishers are doing a wonderful job bringing those slower more meaningful stories into the world today.