Category: Switching

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Age Activated Attention Disorder or “Multitasking Gone Mad”

A friend of mine sent the following article that gave me a chuckle…

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Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. – Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder.

This is how it manifests itself:

I decide to water my garden.  As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car in the garage and decide it needs washing.

As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.

I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.

I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.

So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first.

But then I think, since I’m going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.

I take my check book off the table, and see that there is only one check left. My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Pepsi I’d been drinking.

I’m going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Pepsi aside so that I don’t accidentally knock it over.

The Pepsi is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.

As I head toward the kitchen with the Pepsi, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye–they need water.

I put the Pepsi on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I’ve been searching for all morning.

I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I’m going to water the flowers.

I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.

I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I’ll be looking for the remote, but I won’t remember that it’s on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I’ll water the flowers.

I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.

So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.

Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day:

  • the garden isn’t watered
  • the car isn’t washed
  • the trash can isn’t emptied
  • the bills aren’t paid
  • there is a warm can of Pepsi sitting on the counter
  • the flowers don’t have enough water,
  • there is still only 1 check in my check book,
  • I can’t find the remote,
  • I can’t find my glasses,
  • and I don’t remember what I did with the car keys.

 

Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I’m really baffled because I know I was busy all damn day, and I’m really tired.

I realize this is a serious problem, and I’ll try to get some help for it,
but first I’ll check my e-mail….

Do me a favor.  Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don’t remember who the hell I’ve sent it to.

[email_link]

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Article: Are You a Multitasking Guru?

Michael, the author of Black Belt Productivity, make a compelling case to read the new book by Dave Crenshaw entitled “The Myth of Multi-Tasking.”

He interviews the author, who shares the gist of the ideas contained in the book.  Essentially, he argues that multi-tasking is something that humans are incapable of doing well, and in our age of cell-phones and Blackberry’s, it’s something we should strive not to do.  Instead, we should create environments that help us to focus as much of our attention on what we are doing in the moment.

At first blush, it appears to confirm my own observations in this area, so I am open to reading the book, but I’ll look at some more of the reviews before deciding to invest the time.  2Time is built on this very same notion of creating an uninterrupted flow of activity.

 Here is the  link to the article.

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Component/Fundamental #9 – Switching v2

One of the most important tasks that a user of any time management system must perform is to switch from one task to another. While this may seem like a simple action, the more capable users include practices that are unique.

Definition

Switching is defined as stopping one task, looking at all the time demands, and deciding what to do next.

Principles

Advanced users take great care about switching, knowing that there is always a temptation to switch too quickly. To do so is to court disaster.

  1. Firstly, the most advanced users cherish the moments when they are in the flow of any activity – in fact, a major goal of their system is to stay in the flow as long as possible without interruption. Continue reading “Component/Fundamental #9 – Switching v2”