Multitasking

Mindful Wellbeing in the Workplace Multitasking

Lord Chesterfield, a British diplomat in the 1740's noted that singular focus is a mark of intelligence. What did he know back then about doing multiple things at once? Defined today as multitasking, he further noted that a steady attention to one object or act is a sure mark of superior genius. What would Lord Chesterfield observe today? Recent research, in an article written by Ph.D Kevin Madone explains what happens to our brains when we multitask, and the scientific study over the past few decades reveals information about the processing limitations of our brains and minds when we do multitask. Do we actually complete fully the tasks at hand? And if so, at what cost to our brain health, especially if it is consistently done over time with no breaks.

I am not a scientist nor an expert on multitasking, but my experience in the wellness profession, particularly Mindful Wellbeing in Corporate America, I discovered that stress levels are higher during a meditation session because it is harder to train the brain to focus on one thing, thus calm the mind. Let's face it, we all multi task, in a mindful practice we retrain ourselves to notice when and what we are doing in the moment, we pause and possibly ask ourselves "do I need to be doing this now?" It's like when we grab our phone while in the middle of a conversation with someone else, even our kids. These have become automatic habits known as autopilot. A simple mindful pause, an interruption to ask ourselves the question, "do I need to be doing this now?"

Happy Mindful Wellbeing everyone!! message me for more tips and tools on mindful wellbeing and good health in the workplace.

Article Multicosts of Multitasking https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7075496/