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Multitasking
Mar. 5th, 2011 06:43 pmFrom The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.
The moment we stray from where we are, we create a tension between two places-where we are and where we are thinking of being. It is this tension that blocks us from the sensation of being fully alive, because being split in our attention prevents us from being authentic-even though managing many tasks at once (being skillful in splitting our attention) is considered intelligent.
I consider myself to be intelligent, and I suppose by the numbers, and grades and pieces of paper etc, I could be considered to be - yes... but... I am hopeless, terrible, no good, very bad at multi-tasking.
It's supposed to be something that women are very good at. Perhaps that means I am the exception that proves the rule. I can usually manage two or three things without too much trouble... without dropping the ball too badly, but after that, forget it - which is a problem, really it is - because so often I need to be doing more than that at once. That, I think, is a product of the way society has changed, where... if you're not able to keep four or five balls aloft at once, you're not considered 'good enough.' So a lot of the time I end up feeling inadequate.
So, yes... lately I've been trying to do too much, too many things at the same time - and as has been pointed out to me - what I'm doing is no good as a result. No, it's not because I'm tired, though to be fair it does get worse the more tired I get as with everyone. I'm not superman... no one is, right? It's because I'm trying to keep up; to prevent myself from feeling useless and not good enough which I have been feeling of late. Trying and failing (so obviously), has left me feeling worse than ever of course, so really, I might as well limit myself, to the number of things I'm doing at once. One or two, no more than three.
Actually, yes - I envy the people out there who are able to multi-task... who can think one thing, say something else, and do something completely apart from both other things. I envy those people who can have six windows open all at once, and can keep up with them all, (to a greater or lesser degree, and even I have noticed that. It does make me feel a little bit better). I find myself wishing I could stray from what I'm focussed on enough to do something else and then return to the original thing and find it none the worse for wear.
It's a skill - and I wonder if it's a product of a different way of thinking, and different way their brain functions, but then, I don't really know how my own brain works really; my own thinking processes. I wouldn't have said that I thought in a linear way - but surely if I can't do many things at once, surely that means that the way my thinking works is in a linear fashion. I have to shrug and say that I don't know.
All I know is what is. Though I'm female, I can't multi-task with a damn.
So hard to feel the stone
and not the ripple
The moment we stray from where we are, we create a tension between two places-where we are and where we are thinking of being. It is this tension that blocks us from the sensation of being fully alive, because being split in our attention prevents us from being authentic-even though managing many tasks at once (being skillful in splitting our attention) is considered intelligent.
I consider myself to be intelligent, and I suppose by the numbers, and grades and pieces of paper etc, I could be considered to be - yes... but... I am hopeless, terrible, no good, very bad at multi-tasking.
It's supposed to be something that women are very good at. Perhaps that means I am the exception that proves the rule. I can usually manage two or three things without too much trouble... without dropping the ball too badly, but after that, forget it - which is a problem, really it is - because so often I need to be doing more than that at once. That, I think, is a product of the way society has changed, where... if you're not able to keep four or five balls aloft at once, you're not considered 'good enough.' So a lot of the time I end up feeling inadequate.
So, yes... lately I've been trying to do too much, too many things at the same time - and as has been pointed out to me - what I'm doing is no good as a result. No, it's not because I'm tired, though to be fair it does get worse the more tired I get as with everyone. I'm not superman... no one is, right? It's because I'm trying to keep up; to prevent myself from feeling useless and not good enough which I have been feeling of late. Trying and failing (so obviously), has left me feeling worse than ever of course, so really, I might as well limit myself, to the number of things I'm doing at once. One or two, no more than three.
Actually, yes - I envy the people out there who are able to multi-task... who can think one thing, say something else, and do something completely apart from both other things. I envy those people who can have six windows open all at once, and can keep up with them all, (to a greater or lesser degree, and even I have noticed that. It does make me feel a little bit better). I find myself wishing I could stray from what I'm focussed on enough to do something else and then return to the original thing and find it none the worse for wear.
It's a skill - and I wonder if it's a product of a different way of thinking, and different way their brain functions, but then, I don't really know how my own brain works really; my own thinking processes. I wouldn't have said that I thought in a linear way - but surely if I can't do many things at once, surely that means that the way my thinking works is in a linear fashion. I have to shrug and say that I don't know.
All I know is what is. Though I'm female, I can't multi-task with a damn.
