Eliminating Overwhelm XXI: Multitasking Can Be Harmful to Your Health

How many things can you do all at once? How much of your day is spent juggling many different things at the same time?

Take a moment to reflect on how you feel. Does this feel good for you? Do you feel overwhelmed and stressed? Can you feel the adrenaline flowing in your bloodstream?

Most people say that when they are busy, when they are approaching deadlines, they can think clearer. Women, especially, believe that they do well when they are handling several things at once – life is not the same if there’s not a ton of stuff to get done. We operate as if it all has to be done at once and immediately.

But this is what makes it so difficult to relax; this is a form of energy and when we come down, we crash. It’s not a healthy way to live.

Juggling is not the same as managing.

We all have many different areas of our lives to manage – kids, home, school, work, multiple projects, recreation, and chores. We can juggle or we can manage and be in control of it all.

Most of us learn to juggle because we have not learned how to pace ourselves. We just add more and more to the plate and then have to get it done – or believe we have to get it done – by ourselves and immediately.

We have not yet learned to pace ourselves, to limit the number of projects we involve ourselves in, to delegate or outsource accordingly, and to set more realistic expectations for how we use our time.

Multitasking isn’t really possible. The brain is quite extraordinary in that our conscious mind can only hold one thought – or feeling – at a time. This means, you cannot pay attention to more than one thing in each moment.

So if you are doing more than one thing at a time, one of two things is happening.

1)      You are shifting your attention between two or more things.

Shifting requires that you break your concentration to focus on the other thing then back to the first then back again.

Your power is in your ability to focus your energy and attention on one thing at a time to maximize your efforts.

This also means you don’t have to try to remember what you were doing or where you were going with that project.

Shifting your attention can be quite useful with chores. People with ADD can learn to use this ability quite well given the distracted nature of their brain.

Overwhelm and feelings of stress increase if you are not careful about using this ability.

If you are consciously choosing to focus on more than one thing at a time, then you might be quite effective and peaceful. If you permit interruptions and distractions, then you can easily lose your focus, forget what you were doing and will waste valuable time trying to get back to what you were thinking before you went off and did other things.

2)      The behavior is habit and does not require your consciousness. In other words, you perform this task automatically and without presence or attention.

Did you ever drive home and not know how you got there? Scary thought, I know. But don’t worry, your subconscious mind was working for you. Your conscious mind was somewhere else. And if needed, your consciousness would have snapped to attention.

Remember when you first learned to drive. It was difficult. You had to think about every little thing – what to look out for, where your hands go, which foot does what with which pedals. Eventually, you became accustomed to driving and now it’s second nature. Your mind remembers what do to. So does every other part of your body, muscles, and cells. You no longer have to think about where to put your hands. This is how the brain conserves energy and how it enables us to be so efficient.

Create a habit and it will serve you quite well.

We are slaves to our habits which is why good habits are so important to nurture.

So while multitasking has its uses, it can be harmful to your health. Use it wisely to maximize your productivity. Doing more doesn’t mean you’re more effective. It usually means you’re more stressed.

Want to DE-stress? Contact me for a free coaching session.

Your partner for success,

Coach Julie ~ Nurturing Your Success