Multitasking Happy Crap

Do you want to know one of the biggest crocks of the modern workplace? Multitasking. Why would anyone want to do a handful of things at once in a thorough half-assed fashion instead of doing one task correctly to termination or a logical stopping point and then moving on to the next task?

When I first started working from home while taking care of my son, I tried to multitask the living daylights out of my life. Any time my iPad would ding with mail, I’d spring up and examine the incoming message, no matter what I was doing—activities like feeding my son, putting him down to sleep, walking my dog, or trying to squeeze in a moment to read. I was working all of the time and trying to do everything necessary to take care of my child, wife, dog, home, and, once in a while, myself. I felt like I wasn’t taking good enough care of any of it. I just ended up feeling burnt out.

I realized that I needed to create some boundaries. First off, I silenced my electronic devices. When I was on kid-duty that is all I would do. I carved out (sometimes erratic) windows throughout my days and weeks to accomplish tasks like checking email, following up on potential interviewees, and writing. And Tuesday afternoons and all day Thursday, when Buck is at daycare, I need to really get to the old crankin’ and burnin’ on the work front.

So far, so good. Sure, when I’m on a tight deadline, all of these boundaries go right out the window. But I’m getting better at balancing my time during deadlines as well as in my day-to-day life. It’s a work in progress and it is always evolving. But at least I know better than trying to do that multitasking happy crap.