Multitasking? Is there a gene missing?

[OceanAnnie]

I have been known not to finish a few things in a timely manner. It takes time to keep all the plates spinning! But when I'm done, I can cross off a number of things, not just one.

 

[NFLDERS]

There was a time when I could multi task with the best of them. Then, somewhere along the line I lost that gene to be replaced with age"ing".

When my generation were first introduced to multi tasking at work we came to realize soon after; there were a lot of "Jacks" of all tasks but "Masters" of none.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

There was a time when I could multi task with the best of them. Then, somewhere along the line I lost that gene to be replaced with age"ing".

When my generation were first introduced to multi tasking at work we came to realize soon after; there were a lot of "Jacks" of all tasks but "Masters" of none.

My boss is just the opposite. He's an absolute master of a few tasks, but completely useless on everything else. The shame is, he thinks he can do the other tasks "pretty well".

He also doesn't understand that one of the things he does so well - namely sales - isn't something that just anyone can do. This is a guy who will cold call a new client at 5:10 on a Friday afternoon & get results, or SCREAM obscenities at an existing client and then have 3 new contracts by the time the call ends. He just has "it" when it comes to sales & because it comes so naturally to him, he doesn't understand why it can't be taught to anyone & everyone. Right now, he's trying to train his son & has been for a couple years and the son doesn't have "it". He's a good worker & not without skills, but he is just not one who's going to go find business, and he never will be.

 

[njmom47]

Hmmm...if making dinner (that entails 3 or 4 different things with different cooking times and ways to be cooked and having everything done at the same time) is multi-tasking, then I'm good at that.
Or if I'm heading upstairs, I'll grab things that need to go on my way.

Otoh, dh has to make a plan to make the plan to get anything done.

At work, I prefer not to multi-task. I am one of those people who can't change brain-gears that quickly.

 

[Jeff in BigD]

I think it's totally a gender thing. I really suck at multi-tasking. My wife is pretty great at it.

I've often heard the thought processes explained like this:
For women it's like a giant, open warehouse;
for men it's a series of rooms that you can only open a few doors at a time.

I've had to remind my DW that any major questions shouldn't be asked while I'm driving or watching TV.

 

[mamasuf]

I was just thinking about this yesterday. I had hip replacement surgery and am unable to do basically anything for the time being. My husband is pretty good at multitasking.

However, I had to sit and watch my son make dinner last night. He just could not get the concept of starting something on the stove and setting the table or cleaning up the sink while it cooked. I was so frustrating to me because when I would tell him to do something, he would say, "I'm setting the table, etc." I realized then that he can't multitask.

I guess I just have to live with it until I can do it myself.

 

[Imzadi]

Or is it a gender thing?

I am a multitasker. Right now, for example, I have laundry going, I'm making bacon, helping my son write a paper and I'm dissing!

My husband stood watching toast toast.


So are you a multitasker? Or are you a one task kind of person? And can a multitasker live in peace with a one tasker, or is it inevitable that one day the toaster may be smashed over someone's head?

There is something about being able to multi-task, although it is not a gender or thing. Gene thing may e close to it. It has to do with being a Right-brained person. Right-brained people are more creative, think spatially instead of linearly (& Left-brained, meaning one thing at a time in a sequential order,) and that makes them better multi-taskers.

 

[JanaDee]

See, when my wife tries to multi-task, that's when nothing gets finished. She starts one thing, gets distracted, starts another, gets distracted, starts another, and at the end of the day has 4 or 5 unfinished projects. It takes ~3 hours to cut our grass. If DW had to do it, it'd take her a month because she would start & stop every 15 minutes

She's been in the process of organizing her laundry room for about 2 years. She never spends more than a few minutes on it before she's on to some other task. I decided to organize the garage. Took about 4 hours because I focused on that ONE task, and didn't deviate from it until it was DONE.

I am guessing you were able to organize the garage for four hours because your wife was picking up your slack.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I am guessing you were able to organize the garage for four hours because your wife was picking up your slack.

I worked 2,500 hours last year. DW worked 900. I do ALL the yard work & help inside as well. I carry my weight, thank you very much I got it done because I refused to move on to some other project until that one was DONE.

 

[cluvsdisney]

I am efficient but don't really multi-task. For instance, I'll clean the house while the laundry is going but I'm not vacuuming and dusting at the same time. There could be the TV or radio on in the background while I clean, but that's so passive I wouldn't consider watching a tv program a task.

I read an article that it's more efficient to finish one task and then move on to the other because the time spent switching gears jumping back and forth from one task to another can add up and is just time wasted.

 

[JanaDee]

I worked 2,500 hours last year. DW worked 900. I do ALL the yard work & help inside as well. I carry my weight, thank you very much I got it done because I refused to move on to some other project until that one was DONE.

Sometimes Moms don't have the choice of refusing whether to move on to another project/task.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

I don't think it's necessarily a gender thing because my wife is exactly like most of you describe your husbands and I am exactly like most of you describe yourselves. Our roles in the home are reversed so I think we both have developed the skills necessary to accomplish our tasks and goals. Not so much a gender thing but more an expectation thing from what I see every day.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Sometimes Moms don't have the choice of refusing whether to move on to another project/task.

Our youngest is nearly 9, so she doesn't have the same constant demands she would have had a few years back. And usually, it's not some immediate need that distracts her. She just lacks the ability to stay "on task" if there's no official deadline.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Multitasking is a myth.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-myth-of-multitasking

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2011/04/26/the-myth-of-multitasking/

 

[Coonhound]

Multitasking is a myth.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95256794

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-myth-of-multitasking

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolkinseygoman/2011/04/26/the-myth-of-multitasking/

I agree. People think they are multitasking but they're not really. They are just focusing on each thing for a shorter time and moving to the next one without ever really having their full attention on something