productivity

You Stink At Multitasking: Try This Instead

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I am crazy. I work two rewarding but difficult jobs. I have four kids, an amazing wife, and a lot of people who are constantly needing my attention. I love this life of mine. But I often felt like the old variety show act where the guy or gal is constantly spinning a bunch of plates on top of sticks. You can only keep that going for so long before they crash. So I decided to stop spinning the plates. Nothing about the level of my responsibility or the amount of work I have to accomplish changed. If anything I do more work now. Here’s how I get more done without crashing. I stopped multitasking, because I’m not good at it.

You are not good at multitasking. You might think you are. I know some of you think are. But research has actually demonstrated that the better you think are at it—the worse you really are. Let’s do a simple exercise to demonstrate this. 

Exercise One: write three columns similar to the ones below using Arabic and Roman numerals and the first ten letters of the alphabet. For this first step write them in rows going across from left to right alternating the categories as you see in the example. So you’ll write 1, I, A, 2, II, B, and so forth until you finish with 10, X, J in the final row at the bottom. Time the process with the stopwatch on your phone and write down the results at the top of your grid.

1      I     A

2     II     B

3     III    C

4     IV   D

Exercise Two: write the three columns again. This time do it from top to bottom. In other words, don’t switch to the Roman numerals until you’ve finished the first column of 1-10 and don’t switch to the alphabet until you’ve completed column two. Time yourself again. Write the results at the top of the second grid of characters.

Your second number was faster. Probably by quite a bit, and it always will be. No matter how many times you repeat this exercise the second number will always be faster. Sure, you can rig the results and your first number will definitely improve the more you do it, but getting better isn’t the point.

The point is that this is an exercise in what is called context switching. Context switching is what you are doing every time you shift gears to think about something different. So when you’re on the couch folding laundry, watching Stranger Things, answering texts, and checking in on your work email amidst the cries of needy kids—you feel REALLY busy—and you are, but it’s literally taking two, three, or even four times longer to get it all done.

There is a cost to context switching. A real measurable mental cost. You just proved it to yourself with the above exercise. First of all it costs you time. It not only costs you time, but it also costs you energy. It takes mental energy to suddenly shift gears. So when you live in the above chaos I described, juggling seventeen things at once, you feel exhausted at the end of the day for a reason. Mentally, you’re spent. And then it costs you even more time because of the mistakes you have to correct along the way.

Some of you do this so habitually that your own brain has tricked you into thinking that you are both great at multitasking, and that you are accomplishing more by doing it. Not true. What’s happened is that you’re mind has actually rewired your neural pathways—the structure your brain uses to send and receive information. 

Guess what? It’s pretty hard to reroute those things. Your brain doesn’t like that. It also likes the path of least resistance. That’s why you can’t just watch a show with your significant other anymore without checking your phone every 90 seconds. It’s why you can’t walk from from your car to your office without headphones in or checking your phone again, or both. You have wired your brain to attempt to do many things at once and you’re not doing any of them as well as you could if you chose only one of them to do.

Maybe you think you don’t have a choice. And some of it could be outside of your immediate control. I get that. But try this. It’s a technique sometimes called batching or blocking. I’ll explain it to you using how I handle email.

I’m a pastor and an adjunct professor so email is an ever present reality. But I don’t like it. I think it’s second rate communication at best, but it’s what we have so we roll with it. Dozens and dozens of emails pour in every day. So a long time ago I gave myself permission to stink at email—and somehow I got a lot better at it. This is what I do. I spend about five minutes at a time roughly three times during my work day looking at email. That’s it. I block off a chunk of time and I only do email then. I don’t even open the app on my phone unless I’m traveling or think of an immediate reason to send a message that can’t wait. I also never open an email I don’t intend to respond to immediately. Because then I have to tackle the same email twice. More wasted time.

Email is only one thing. There are many things that can be done in blocks or batches. Probably almost anything repetitive and systematic about your life or work can be done this way. 

How can you get creative about eliminating context switching in your daily routines? How can you eliminate the feeling of busyness and replace it with actual worthwhile accomplishment? One of the ways you can do that is by seeing multitasking for what it is—the place productivity goes to die.

Try it. I promise it will not be easy. But I also promise that as you figure it out and things change for you, it will definitely be worth it.

Three of My Best Decisions This Year

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Every day of our lives are full of decisions to make. What to wear. What to eat. What kind of dance to do when your kid uses the potty...Oh, you don’t do that? Ok.

We all have decisions. Some decisions we make. Some decisions make us. The ones we make are sometimes small things that make a big impact. The ones that make us are total game changers. They may not even seem like that big a deal at the time—but.... they. change. everything.

Here are three of the best decisions I’ve made in the last year.

1) I stopped watching TV.

Total honesty here. I still watch TV. Wait, what? Did you just lie to us Nate? No. No. No. Maybe a better way to say it would have been “I stopped being addicted to TV.”

I cut the cable. Literally. I walked out to the side of my house and physically the cut the cable, tore it down, and threw it in the trash.

I worked in an entertainment retail store as a manager a long time ago. I saw dozens of people daily whose lives were consumed by the stuff they liked. Don’t get me wrong here—I still enjoy some entertainment now and then. I love superhero movies. I love college basketball. But I have too many important things to do to let some show run the show.

So I unplugged and checked out. It’s never a priority. I watch it on my time and my schedule if I watch it at all, which is becoming less and less. Guess what? I don't miss it.

 

2) I decided to be bad at email.

I don’t know about you, but my life is busy. At some point in the past someone somewhere decided that sending electronic mail was an efficient way of doing things—and I guess it is to an extent. But what I discovered in the last couple of years is that I can spend a lot of time looking over the dozens and sometimes hundreds of emails that pour in every day—or I can take a few of them a couple of times a week and try to make a difference.

So I gave myself permission to suck at email. If you email me I might not see it. And I’ve learned to be ok with that. Because honestly if what you have to say is actually urgent or important enough you really need to talk it through with me you can reach me another way.

Kind of liking cutting the cable—I’ve decided to ignore the inbox. That might not work for you. But it works pretty great for me.

 

3) I resolved to say yes more than no.

I am really good at saying no. It’s a skill I developed over and over and over again throughout my twenties. It seemed like I was getting asked to play music somewhere all the time. Or I’d get asked to do favors for people on a regular basis. I did a lot of it, but nowhere close to all of it. I would just say no.

I realized saying no so much wasn’t always the best reflection of this amazing God I love. What I’ve learned most about Jesus when I read about his incredible love is just how much and how often he said yes.

Jesus said yes to interruptions. He said yes to needs. He said yes to his friends, his family, and perfect strangers.

What would happen in my everyday world if I made it a goal to get to yes? I bet a lot. Stayed tuned, I’m working on this. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

These are three simple things I’ve put into practice in the last year of my life. The changes they have brought have been amazing. What are some of the best decisions you’ve made? 

 

 

May 6 - At His Feet

Read: Luke 10:38-42

And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. (Luke 10:39 ESV)

What is more important working for Jesus, or being with Jesus? That question lies at the heart of the story of Jesus' friends Mary and Martha. Martha was busy working to prepare hospitality for her guests while Mary simply sat at the Lord's feet to hear all that he had to say.

Jesus addressed the issue quite plainly. He said that Mary had chosen something wonderful. Se had elected to sit at his feet. She had chosen presence over productivity.

Sadly in today's culture we are obsessed with productivity. Accomplishment and busyness are the norm, but there is something especially wonderful about simply abiding in Jesus. Being with Jesus takes precedence.

This notion doesn't release from the responsibility of working hard to do the things God asks of us. It doesn't free us from the wonderful burden of Godly stewardship. In fact, actively pursuing God's presence will always set us up for success in other endeavors.