88. The Truth About Multitasking and Distractions

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being not very often and 10 being very often, where would you rate yourself on how often you multitask? If you never multitask, give yourself a 1. If you multitask multiple times a day, give yourself a 10. I wish I could hear your answer. We'll share them in our Encouragement for Real Life Community this week. Today in this episode we're looking at the truth about multitasking and just how much it affects us when it comes to distractions. You might find all of this very interesting as I did!

She looked at me as if I had three eyeballs.

I'll never forget her face. When I told her I didn't like to multitask. She was the master at it. She had it down and multitasked in everything she did. While working out, she folded clothes. While driving her kids to school, she listened to training CDs (this was a number of years ago before podcasting was really a thing). As she made dinner, she created her to-do list for the next day.

Now, none of this involved a life or death situation, even though experts say doing anything else while driving can cause distracted driving. But she did two--or more--things at once, all the time. I felt a bit ridiculous in not excelling at multitasking, so I set out to learn from her. Because it was assumed if you multitasked, your brain was a highly-functioning brain. The more you multitasked, the smarter you were! The more you multitasked, the more you got done! Right??

Dictionary.com defines multitasking as: computing the execution of various diverse tasks simultaneously; the carrying out of two or more tasks at the same time by one person. I find it interesting that Thesaurus.com adds the antonym of focus.

So, I guess that means focus is the opposite of multitasking?

And that's what researchers today are saying. Our brains are not created to focus on more than one thing at a time. In fact, it's impossible to do. Yet, multitaskers believe that's what they are doing all the time. But in reality, they are just switching from one task to another very quickly. Even if it may seem they are doing the tasks simultaneously.

We look deeper into what researchers say today about the harmful effects of multitasking and how multitasking doesn't help us get more done, it actually slows us down.

I share a couple Bible verses about our brains and minds, and we ponder a few ideas to help us step away from multitasking.

Sometimes our biggest distractions come from within, and multitasking is one of them. You and I deserve to treat ourselves--and our brains--better. I'm joining you in this endeavor, in this quest to retrain our brains to doing one thing at a time. We can do this with God's help! God bless you!

• Definition of multitasking
• Antonym of multitasking
• Multitasking Is a Myth
• The Real Dangers of Multitasking
• 2 Timothy 1:7 NLV
• Romans 8:5-6 NIV
• Brain Basics from NIH
• Encouragement for Real Life Community
• Access NEW! Free Resources to encourage your heart (printables, lockscreens, social posts, etc.)