Brother-in-law showed me this interesting article on Slashdot.  Here is the link to the actual article, “The Autumn of Multitaskers“.

I wanted to include my thoughts on multitasking on life and games.

I am a gamer, always been and always will be.  That is a part of me that I grew up with and will advocate everything about it.  Some may have very mixed opinions on gaming, but I will always consider it an advanced visual form of puzzles.  The point in this post is to identify problems and causes in multitasking and how to manage it.  Gaming can require a lot of attention and concentration.  So being indulged in mind stimulating video game, could result into serious physical aggression at the smallest form of distraction.  We will avoid that part for now.

Stick with simple gaming like crossword puzzles or sodoku. Something that you can pick up and put down.  Less of a distraction, doesn’t take priority to given tasks.

Another example has risen, as I write this blog post, and believe me, I am the absoute worst at multitasking, but my wife decided to quote a post to me out loud from a forum.  Although it was supposed to be funny, I don’t think she got the reaction that she wanted from me because I was already preoccupied with this one.

Don’t be mistaken that multitasking has to deal with physical tasks.  Imagine that you are an accountant, before you were called by a client, you were in the middle of counting something.  You answer the phone to discuss accounting numbers while at the same time trying to keep memory of the last thing you counted.  You may have stopped physically counting, but now you have to work on not forgetting the last number.   Depending on the priority, your brain now tries to determine which is important, recollection of accounting numbers or not forgetting the last thing counted. 

Unless you have a photographic memory, performance in one task will draw resources from the other tasks.  That is why most of your professors or bosses recommend that you “jot” or “write” down key notes.

Here are some small thoughtful recommendations to keep your task functioning efficiently with little multitasking.  The point is to avoid too much multitasking.  Sometimes you can’t avoid it.

• Use effective time management, plan accordingly, keep a shared calendar
• Prioritize your tasks, set milestones and goals
• Write down everything you might have trouble remembering
• Politely ask those who are inadvertantly interrupting to schedule a time

The effects of multitasking without proper management could lead to:

• Less efficiency in performance
• Losing or forgetting important tasks
• Wasting time from lack of prepareness
• Distractions = Frustrations and aggravation

Bottomline – multitasking may seem effective but can be more of a distraction than a progression.  Don’t think multitasking is limited to just physical tasks.

I would like to think our brains are more like race car engines with restricter plates.  You can’t lead a race and then hit the breaks, throw the car in reverse for a couple hundred years and expect to get back into a good position.