Are you addicted to multitasking?

I have to be completely honest with you. I sat down today to write this email and I didn’t know what to say.

Not because I don’t have anything to share with you.

But, because I have too much to say.

The community and new family that I’ve created with the other volunteers. The mouth-watering meals. The connectedness with nature and myself. My struggle to find a balance between volunteer work, business work, and self-care time. The list is endless.

I could have easily made excuses not to come here. I could have complained that I had to pay a fee or that I didn’t want to take the time away from working on some exciting projects within my business. It’s too uncomfortable. I don’t want to be away from Ben. I don’t know anyone there. Excuse after excuse.

I feel so grateful that I know enough about stepping outside of my comfort zone that I jumped feet first into this opportunity. I didn’t know what to expect or what would come from it, but I knew it would be life-changing for me.

And it has been. In more ways than one.

I hope you enjoyed my lesson from last week’s email. If you missed it, you can come and check it out over on my website here.

Among the millions of powerful moments and lessons, I’m learning each day, I want to discuss the power of being present and the facade of multitasking.

Do you pride yourself on being a great multi-tasker?

I sure used to. I thought it was one of my best skills (second to talking…).

Until last year when I read “The Myth of Multitasking” by Dave Crenshaw.

Mind blown.

All these years I thought multitasking was the way to function. Like it was something to get better at. When all this time, I’d been holding myself BACK because what I was really doing was switch-tasking.

Removing myself from my daily “to dos” has allowed me to really slow down and reflect on my normal day to day.

I’ve realized how rarely I am fully present in my everyday life.

Can you remember the last time you’ve been fully aware and in the moment? 

I did my very first walking/forest meditation last week and it was eye-opening. So many times I go through a forest or walk from A to B with my thoughts going a mile a minute and not really paying attention to the sounds and feelings at that very moment. The sound of the birds. The light through the trees. The texture and color of bark. The feeling of the earth under my feet.

Each moment is the only moment we really have. The rest is energy sucking thoughts, worries, and stress.

I know we can all benefit from bringing more awareness and presence into our lives. And I think it all starts with breaking up with our addiction with multitasking.

When we constantly run our brains from one task to another (switch tasking), we are effectively working at half speed. We may think we are getting a lot “done” but we aren’t. We are being inefficient with our time. Our brain takes time to switch from one thought to another and we struggle to find the flow and focus because we’re constantly changing what we’re doing.

My new goal – to focus fully on one task at a time when I work or go throughout my day. I’ll be more present with my thoughts and feelings at any moment (a work in progress!).

That focus takes practice, but you’ll notice how much quicker you’ll be at getting tasks done. You’ll also notice how much less stressed you’ll be and how much more energy you have.

Life flies by. So, why not live in each moment and fully enjoy it?

Really listen when talking with your kids. Be present when you eat your meals.

I know this has been a huge source of stress for myself over the years and I’m so thankful to spend some time reflecting on and understanding this in my own life. We all know how dangerous stress is for our health and I believe that learning to be more intentional and present each moment is a real solution.

Where can you be more present in your life right now?

How can you start to break that nasty multitasking habit?

How will it change your life if you were less stressed and more focused?