I’m in a continual battle to be in the present moment. In reflecting on what is and is not working I’ve noticed a pretty stark pattern: Multitasking nearly always takes me out of the present moment and makes my experience less enjoyable.
I think a lot of us can relate to that feeling that we should be shoving as much productivity into each possible moment. I tend to have a nagging voice in my head that tells me doing one thing at a time isn’t enough.
It’s not enough to cook breakfast, I should be unloading the dishwasher and wiping down the counters too. It’s not enough to watch a TV show, I should be dinking around on the internet too. Paying attention to whatever I’m eating isn’t enough, I should be scrolling through Instagram.
The norm is to keep ourselves as busy as possible. When something unexpected comes up it’s more stressful than it needs to be because our plates are already full. We’ve engineered lives where we simply don’t have time for one more thing.
Some multitasking is necessary but a lot of it is just artificially engineered busyness.
“Honey, I’m watching the game, doing a Sudoku, and checking Twitter. I just don’t have time to make popcorn.”
Sometimes we have to multitask. I have a toddler. I understand the need to be as productive as possible in a short amount of time. But that pattern of continually trying to do multiple things at once seeps into everything we do, even our relaxation.
It’s hard to relax unless we’re productively relaxing. We can’t just sit there and not worry, we have to be DOING something. Usually, multiple somethings.
Many of us sit in front of the TV for hours per night not really watching whatever is on. Instead, we’re on our phones. We aren’t doing anything in particular on our phones, we just feel we should be doing more than just watching TV.
I find myself doing this often. In a moment of clarity, I’ll think about how absurd it is that TV is a distraction from real life and yet I need to be distracted from my distraction. People, man.
Maybe this doesn’t bother other people but it bums me out when I notice it. Focusing on too many things at once makes me feel like I’m floating through life not really experiencing any of it.
I think we’re subconsciously terrified of being bored.
If the TV show has even the slightest lull in the action we’ve lost interest. We’ve lost the art of being bored and it causes us to fill our time with enough nonsense that we don’t ever have to feel that familiar greasy pang of not being sure what to do.
I have to remind myself to put my distractions down and just watch a show. If you haven’t just sat and watched TV in a while it’s surprisingly hard.
When I focus on a single thing—watching TV, or sweeping the floor, or cooking breakfast—I find my experience is more pleasant. I’m less frazzled and more relaxed, even when doing something I don’t enjoy. When I try to split my attention in too many directions I find I can have an unpleasant time, even if I’m doing things I want to be doing.
Do Zero (or One) Things at a Time
In my last article, I talked about the beauty of being bored. This idea is a continuation of that. Strip away everything you’re doing and be okay with doing nothing. Then, do one thing. Focus on being in the moment and doing one thing, even if that one thing is zoning out.
Sometimes we’re so busy that multitasking is the only way to get everything done. But I think more often than not we multitask out of habit. Multitasking should be the exception, not the norm.
Try to limit yourself to one thing at a time and see if you don’t enjoy that one thing more.
Slow down.
Life is mostly mundane moments meant to be fully experienced in single file.
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