Multitasking is bulls-hit

Dear reader,

it's often said that we women are more capable of doing several things at once more than men can do it. Women are capable of multitasking, men aren't. Or are we all in the end incapable of multitasking really? Maybe I can write this here and at the same time have the music on and I do have a chat window open on top of that. I could certainly also do some exercises that can be done sitting, while I'm writing here. Mentally my attention is definitely divided though and not truly totally with either of these things. Without actually researching for studies on this, I think that the concentration and productivity decreases, if you do several times “at the same time” so to speak. Because you'd not give your full attention to either of them. Not to mention the question of for how long you can keep up doing several things at once, dividing your attantion between them and staying mentally and physically healthy. 

Penn Jillette of the magic duo Penn & Teller read about this once that you should not listen to music while riding your bike. Because it would limit your attention of what's going on on the street. Strictly speaking you should have your radio or music off in your car. Penn actually did that for a while. What he found out is not really surprising: he found that he was paying more attention to the road traffic and would notice more things.

There are different versions of this story of a zen master. He was asked what his secret to enlightenment was. “When I sleep, I just sleep. When I walk, I just walk. When I eat, I just eat”, the zen master said. The student was confused. He was very certain he did that, too. “No”, the zen master said. “When you wake up, you're thinking about what to eat. When you eat, you think about where to go next.”

For those knowing this story, there's a sort of follow-up story to that. The zen master is sitting at the table one morning eating his breakfast and reading the newspaper. “Master”, the student says. “Didn't you say when you eat, you just eat. When you walk, you just walk? Now you're sitting here, eating your breakfast and reading the newspaper. Doesn't that contradict your teachings?” To which the zen master said, “When I read the newspaper and eat breakfast, I just read the newspaper and eat breakfast.”

Until next blog,

sarah