I don't want to be a multi-tasker

A funny thing that happened between Lucas & me yesterday made me start thinking. Long story short, he was teasing me & giving me a hard time about a habit of mine that drives him crazy - it seems I always have at least 3 things in process at a time. I'll start something & then get distracted - the kids, a phone call, or something else that comes to mind - and forget totally that I was even doing something. Yesterday, it was cleaning the kitchen after lunch. I was plugging along, when one of the kids needed something upstairs. Next thing I knew, I was sitting on the couch watching Nanny 911...kitchen still half clean. Hmmmm...funny how that stuff happens a LOT around here.

But I started thinking about this whole phenomenon with me...you know, why is it that this is so common for me? What could I do to 'fix' it. And then I realized something - something I've always known about myself, but never really acknowledged. I HATE multi-tasking. It just seems so counter-intuitive to me. Even the term itself is somewhat repulsive (if you know me, you know that I'm not a big fan of 'catch phrases'). Yet, all through high school, college, and especially work, it was just the expectation. So I tried to train myself to balance a bunch of tasks all at once.

WHY??? It just doesn't make a lot of good sense to me. Why not start one thing & finish it (at least as far as you possibly can) before moving on? Why do we feel like we need to do so many things as once? Don't the other 10 things you're trying to do kind of steal your attention away from the 1 thing you started first? Why not slow down, do one thing at a time, and enjoy each thing along the way? THAT makes a LOT more sense to me, generally speaking. So, here's the deal - I'm obviously not a very good multi-tasker, and it doesn't even really make sense to me - so, I'm not going to do it! (probably a lot easier said than done). It will take some un-training time. But, I think it will be worth it. If nothing else, it will make me work more effectively, simplify life a little, and lower my stress level. Sounds like it's worth a shot!