Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You’re only a stranger once.

October 18, 2007

Are You Fragging Your Brain with a Multitasking Traffic Jam?

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 11:41 am

I Need a Brain Defragger!!

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Does this sound familiar?

You’re working. You’re thinking, typing, planning, talking, and eating . . . all at the same time. A friend, a family member, a person you care about deeply, comes to where you are and says,

“I’ve just cut off my finger! I’m bleeding all over the carpet!”

A full-two minutes later, you actually hear what was said. You stare blankly into space as you try to process the message.

“Um. Oh. Did you just say something about the carpet?”

The message had to fight through the traffic jam on the neuropathways of your multitasking brain.

Multitasking is on its way out for me. I’ve suspected for sometime it was a major source of what made me tired and cranky.

“What?!!! Who cares what we’re having for dinner?!!”

Every new and stressful detail made me wish I had a defragmenter for my brain.

Multitasking didn’t get any more done. I was just doing more at the same time. I knew that doing many things at once is not efficient. Somehow I got sucked into the multitasking vortex, anyway.

Soon enough I thought I was developing an attention deficit. Truth is I was just fragmenting my brain.

Continuous Partial Attention

That’s what it’s called, Continuous Partial Attention — CPA. Keeping our eyes and ears alert to everything, always scanning the environment in case something we need might pop onto our radar — we use multiple screens. We check for multiple priorities.

Scanning is great when what we’re doing is routine. It’s disastrous when a task requires reflection, concentration, or humanity.

“Why do you interrupt?!!! You take your life too seriously.”

We scan because of anxiety . . . we can’t miss anything. Linda Stone described it in a Newsweek interview with Stephen Levy.

. . . there’s a problem in the workplace when the interruptions intrude on tasks that require real concentration or quiet reflection. And there’s an even bigger problem when our bubble of connectedness stretches to ensnare us no matter where we are. A live BlackBerry or even a switched-on mobile phone is an admission that your commitment to your current activity is as fickle as Renée Zellweger’s wedding vows. Your world turns into a never-ending cocktail party where you’re always looking over your virtual shoulder for a better conversation partner. The anxiety is contagious . . .

I read that and I decided to make a change.

I cleared the traffic on the neuropathways of my brain. I became my own defragger. I do one thing at a time, and I get more things done and with fewer errors.

I’m breathing slower and liking myself better.

And now, when someone talks to me, they often get a human answer. I’m pretty proud of that.

Do you need to defragment your brain?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!





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30 Comments to “Are You Fragging Your Brain with a Multitasking Traffic Jam?”

  1. October 18th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
    Teresa Valdez Klein said

    Oh God yes! I need a defragger. I want so badly to concentrate on one thing at a time. Too bad there are 9 million things that need to get done every day and I find I wind up working on 6 million of them simultaneously.

    How do you go about making the switch?

  2. October 18th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
    Jerad Kaliher said

    People often tell me that I’m a talented multitasker. Yet most of the time when I am doing a few things at once I begin to lose the importance that some tasks should have. That rings true especially with conversations.

    I tend to forget what people say to me. I’ve been working hard to counter this but I think I may be doomed unless I can master the skill of continuous partial attention.

  3. October 18th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
    Scott said

    I’d like to know what kind of answer you give when you don’t give a human answer. An alien answer? ;-)

  4. October 18th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
    Kusani said

    In answer to your question, I’d have to say… no. Why? Well, here’s a view from the other side:

    I’m ADD. Literally. I don’t take medications for it, because I’ve found out how to deal with it on my own, and since I’m not ADHD, I don’t need things to calm me down in order to function. (Caffeine will still put me to sleep, which is why I avoid it. Well, one of many reasons, really. Health is good.)

    I am literally incapable of focusing on one single task for more than, say, a half hour. Maybe an hour, if I’m really engrossed and fascinated. If I want to survive the workday, I need ten projects going at once, full access to the internet to be reading a dozen (business-related) blogs, and AIM up so that I can talk to people to keep myself from short-circuiting my own brain.

    And, to those who might be wondering… no, it isn’t because I’ve been multitasking for too long. =) I’ve been ADD for my entire life. Multitasking came well after the realization as a problem-solver, not a problem-creator. Ironic, isn’t it? Multitasking is unhealthy for the vast majority of people - it often takes away their sense of time, and it tends to divide their concentration and efforts, sometimes diluting their productivity entirely.

    Me, give me all day to focus on one project, and I won’t last an hour before I -have- to do something else. My brain will completely shut down and what I’m trying to do will become infinitely boring and difficult. I’ve tried pushing through that shut-down mode, and it doesn’t work. Like trying to walk through a brick wall by telling yourself that there’s no conceivable -reason- that a brick wall should be right there.

    Takes all sorts of brains to make the world go round. =) I don’t mind being ADD, though it can be a challenge to manage. It just means I’m well-suited for hectic and dynamic jobs, and I can spare some poor soul the stress of doing what my brain does naturally - juggling three dozen things at once. =)

    (PS~ Sorry my comments wind up being so long! I tend to ramble.)

  5. October 18th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
    Kusani said

    Because I can’t seem to stop talking today =), I’d also like to note that, for your proposed scenario of someone cutting their finger? In my case, at least, being ADD means I know how to active process multiple trains of thought at once. Priorities and absorption of important messages like that aren’t a problem for me. =) I’d stop what I was doing that very second and move to take care of the situation - it all sinks in, even from many different channels simultaneously.

  6. October 18th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
    Joanna Young said

    Liz, I’m not sure. I know I’m more distracted and daydreamy than I used to be, I go drifting off into a myriad of thoughts and ideas, words are constantly playing in my mind, bits of writing are asking to be writ, I forget my keys, lose my money, go outside in my slippers - but my brain also feels more creative, connected, curious than it has done… well than it ever has done.

    I hope I still focus on “my” people when I need to - but the managing me time is definitely most fragmented. And I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. I think maybe I just want to enjoy being a little bit dotty for a while.

    Joanna

    PS To make full sense of this you’d have had to have known me before - but it’s too long a story for just now!

    @ Kusani - I thought your comments were interesting, not rambling

  7. October 18th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Scott!
    It could be classified as alien. I think. :)

  8. October 18th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Kusani!
    No need to apologize for wonderful comments. They are as long as they need to be. That’s wonderful to me.

    I’ve taught many kids with various forms of ADD. It’s fascinating how many grow up to run companies. If you do the research you’ll find many famous CEOs have ADD. :)

  9. October 18th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Joanna!
    I’m all for what works. Though it’s been shown that what works best is serial tasking. Doing bits of many things in a row. One, two, three, one, two, three, like a waltz. :)

  10. October 18th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
    Joanna Young said

    I like that. Maybe you’ll write a waltzing post for me some time :-)

    Joanna

  11. October 18th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
    ME Strauss said

    I think I might have written it already, and I can’t imagine it being more you.

    A Song of Love in Black and White

    It’s most fun to read aloud. :)

  12. October 18th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
    Joanna Young said

    Oh wow. That’s fabulous. Truly.

    And the second time today that someone’s words have made me cry with gratitude.

    Joanna

  13. October 18th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi!
    Isn’t it amazing that you came by to ask for it almost one year from when I wrote it. :)

  14. October 18th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
    Coach Anne | AmpleAliveness said

    @Kusani:
    Right on!

    I, too have the brain wiring, thinking patterns, and allergy to boredom and repetition characteristic of the phenotype that is erroneously labeled ADD. Why is that a misnomer? Because calling it a “deficit” or a “disorder” are judgements and perspectives, not facts. I prefer the “farmer” vs. “hunter” descriptions coined by Thom Hartmann (see http://www.thomhartmann.com/hunterfarmer.shtml).

    “Farmers” like order, structure, are methodical, patient, and think linearly. Now is the time to till the soil; now plant the seeds; now wait; now harvest; repeat next year.

    “Hunters” are constantly scanning the environment, on the alert both for prey and for predators. Our attention is split on purpose; we multitask (or at least serially task in short bursts) by design. Quick! That noise or movement in the woods — shall I go after the rabbit (one meal) or the deer (many meals), or shall I flee the cougar/bear?! As you noted, we’re good in emergencies, adept at instantly dropping all else for something requiring attention right now.

    Paradoxically, we sometimes flip into “hyperfocus” mode, where we become so absorbed in a fascinating, engaging task that we forget all else — sometimes for days.

    I’ve heard it said that the “ADD” or “hunter” type represents about 10% of the general population — but at least 80% of solopreneurs.
    Makes sense to me.

    If that is who we are, it is no reason not to like ourselves. We simply need to own our own brand of specialness, and adapt our environment and lifestyle accordingly.

  15. October 18th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Ah Kusani!
    What a brilliant description of the values of the way that your mind works. Being one of a “different” way of cognition I understand the “self-preserving” necessities of knowing just what it is that we bring to the table. You bring your brilliant capacities as you so well describe here. I bring my way of “knowing.”

    We all are uniquely valid to the universe. :)

  16. October 18th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
    ME Strauss said

    #1 Teresa!
    It only goes to show you what defragger I still need that I didn’t make it to the moderation queue until tonight. [blush] Who am I to leave you waiting? . . .

    One of the things that sometimes happens when I switch things off is that I turn the clock off with them. ouch.

    Still I gotta say that, despite my embarrassment, the work I get done is so much more fun and so much more focused that when I return to pay attention to the next thing I’m truly present.

    I guess the answer is bite the bullet and admit I’m human. [shrug]

    So, so sorry to keep you waiting.
    Liz

  17. October 18th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
    ME Strauss said

    #2 Hi Jerad!
    Welcome! So sorry I kept you waiting too.

    I know what you mean about losing track of the importance that some tasks should have — especially getting distracted during conversations.

    Being present in the moment, remembering that another person is on the other side of a conversation is the key that I try to put before me. Admittedly, I’m not always successful, but when I make it my intention, I do a whole lot better. :)

    Fro me, the idea is to give up the skill of continuous partial attention.

  18. October 18th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
    --Deb said

    That’s such a good point. Sometimes multi-tasking is useful, but so often, it ends up being unconstructive. But, but, sometimes it’s HARD to focus on one thing! (grin)

  19. October 18th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Deb!
    Sometimes it’s outright boring to focus on one thing! :)

    But one person at a time is a good thing. YEA!

  20. October 19th, 2007 at 6:17 am
    Alina Popescu said

    I need to, I need it so badly it actually hurts…I work in the same office as everyone in my company. 60 something of us…It is huge, still, not privacy, no quiet moments, no nothing. And my job requires concentration, the ability to create texts and to generate ideas…Everything that needs it to be quiet. And on top of all that, I am multitasking because priorities change three times a day. They change means more get a higher priority. For some weird reason, priority rarely decreases here.

  21. October 19th, 2007 at 6:20 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Alina!
    That sounds like a recipe for stress. If you need quiet to think and can’t find any, I’d be telling you to go outside whenever you can to look at the sky. A few minutes of open-sky-ness does wonders to clear the mind of relentless details that are bumping around in there.

  22. October 19th, 2007 at 7:01 am
    Karen Putz said

    I think I’m somewhere between CPA and ADD! :)

  23. October 19th, 2007 at 7:02 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Karen!
    Seeing those two sets of letters together . . . I must have some ADD, because I immediately saw “accountant.” [grin]!

  24. October 19th, 2007 at 7:34 am
    Karen Putz said

    LOL!

  25. October 19th, 2007 at 8:35 am
    Codswallop said

    This was an excellent read. Thanks Liz.

    I think I like you better defragged :)

  26. October 19th, 2007 at 8:37 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Codswallop!
    I don’t blame you! I like me better that way too!

  27. October 20th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
    2007-10-20 Saturday Links Folder : Freelance Folder said

    [...] Are You Fragging Your Brain with a Multitasking Traffic Jam? [...]

  28. October 22nd, 2007 at 9:41 am
    Usersky Daily News Network » 2007-10-20 Saturday Links Folder said

    [...] Can’t Live Without Freelancer’s Guide to Sales: Measuring your Sales Pipeline in 15 Minutes Are You Fragging Your Brain with a Multitasking Traffic Jam? Time Management for Freelancers: How To Pull An All Nighter Managing Your Time as a Freelancer The [...]

  29. November 4th, 2007 at 6:25 am
    The Chaff of Sameness said

    [...] let’s get started on some radical moves. I realize my brain needs to be defragged. I don’t think it is a problem with the multitasking - I think it is the problem with [...]

  30. November 8th, 2007 at 12:23 am
    Take the Time to Just Be - Life Coaches said

    [...] simple, with a bare minimal of decoration, helping the participants of the tea ceremony to focus on just what is at hand. In other words, the room and the ceremony are made to help people just [...]

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