As a general rule, are you good at multitasking? Do you switch gears easily or do you get set on one course and have to see it out to the very end? When you work, do you prefer to work on one task at a time really well, or on a whole bunch of little things, or aspects of a bunch of problems all at once?
If I want to get a hard task done at work, I find that it requires a lot of concentration, but recently my job has been more about doing lots of things all at once... and well... it's taken me some time to adapt... I'm curious how others have faced such a challenge, if at all?
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I'm not as good at it as I was before I had babies that killed a good portion of my brain cells. But I'm still pretty good at it.
My best advice is to break tasks into pieces. Like, I'll throw in a load of laundry and start it. Then load the dishwasher. While I'm loading the dishwasher I give the kids step-by-step instructions for their chores. Or sing to the baby. Or talk to the oldest about school. Then I might start some bread, and while it's rising start on the floors. Switch the laundry out as it needs it, and between other chores. Let the toilet soak in cleaner while I clean the counters. Make phone calls while unloading the dishwasher. Post on Bountiful while feeding the baby, or myself :).
It's just finding breaks in things, and doing something else during the breaks. Granted, that might be easier to do in my job than it is in yours. :)
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
I don't multi-task well at all. I can't even write posts if the tv is on because the noise is so distracting.
But I do what Jen describes, where you break tasks into pieces.
I don't even usually answer my cell phone at the grocery store, for example, because I'm grocery shopping and I can't talk on the phone and pick out bananas at the same time.
I have to multitask or I would go nuts. I am teaching a 4th grader, a kindergartener and herding a 2 year old. Just today I was bathing the younger two, dictating spelling words to the oldest, and doing my hair and makeup. No one drowned, the spelling test was aced and I'm lookin' good.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
My job requires being able to multi-task well, and somehow I've managed to excel at it. I work in a high volume pharmacy so you have to be able to do it. You can tell who can and who can't. But, for some reason I have difficulty multi-tasking at home!
... when I want to be / have to be... I sometimes nearly get myself psyched out by stressing over all the stuff I need to get done to the point I am in near analysis paralysis.
I can also be an effective drill sergeant... er Scoutmaster... as required.
I think the key to being able to effectively multi-task is not so much being able to have a spoon in as many different pots on the stove at one time (which seems to be the way most people in the business world define multi-tasking) as it is in being able to effectively compartmentalize the tasks at hand and getting them done (or in other words... managing, as in getting the job done correctly with the resources available in the time allotted).
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I think the key to being able to effectively multi-task is not so much being able to have a spoon in as many different pots on the stove at one time (which seems to be the way most people in the business world define multi-tasking) as it is in being able to effectively compartmentalize the tasks at hand and getting them done (or in other words... managing, as in getting the job done correctly with the resources available in the time allotted).
Yeah! This is a good point. You can't say you're a good multi-tasker if you just start a million things and only finish 1/4 of them. You're good at multi-tasking if you can finish stuff.
I can compartmentalize tasks if I make lists. Otherwise I tend to lose track of what I'm doing and wonder why I went upstairs.
rayb wrote:recently my job has been more about doing lots of things all at once...
Most of my professional life has been about juggling multiple different tasks of varying importance with varying deadlines. Showing up at work with 25-40 emails from different people about different things, stuff like that.
For years, I used my Franklin daily planner pages religiously. I kept it open and in front of me, between the keyboard and monitor. That way, I could keep the "A" tasks (had to be done today) separate from the B's and C's.
These days, I use Outlook to give me pop-up reminders when necessary, and manage my inbox. If something's in there, it needs attention. When I'm done, I move it off to it's folder.
I think whatever tool works for you, you need a tool of some kind. A mechanism/process/set of habits for being able to help you move from item to item.
Good luck!
LM
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And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men, seven hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all.
I sometimes nearly get myself psyched out by stressing over all the stuff I need to get done to the point I am in near analysis paralysis.
