What do you think about concentration and multitasking?

"The mind can always think on one subject or object at time. When we do several things at the same time, we are actually moving the focus quickly from one subject to another, and it only seems to us that we are focusing on several subjects at the same time. This can sometimes be tiring, and we might not be able to complete tasks successfully, because we do not focus on each task long and intently enough."

The above is an excerpt from a post at the blog titled Concentration and Multitasking

Well for me, multitasking is okay, as long as you won't sacrifice the quality of your output. if not, better concentrate on the a single task.

Well, as mothers, don't we find ourselves multi tasking all the time? If we don't multi task, all those chores will never get finished.

If you have ever had a Zen experience(and most of us have) when engaged in a task, the focus on the task is lost completely and your actions are automatic.
A confident, competant driver will engage in conversation with his passengers, play music, smoke, use a cell phone, look at passing objects which capture his attention - all while travelling at speed. Changing traffic lights, behaviour of other vehicles and road signs are absorbed automatically. Multi-tasking is just a name for the brains ability to prioritise echelons of concentration according to level of experience you have aquired in different tasks.

(11-12-2010 05:07 PM)zebra Wrote:  If you have ever had a Zen experience(and most of us have) when engaged in a task, the focus on the task is lost completely and your actions are automatic.
A confident, competant driver will engage in conversation with his passengers, play music, smoke, use a cell phone, look at passing objects which capture his attention - all while travelling at speed. Changing traffic lights, behaviour of other vehicles and road signs are absorbed automatically. Multi-tasking is just a name for the brains ability to prioritise echelons of concentration according to level of experience you have aquired in different tasks.

I agree that most actions are 'automatic' once learned. The human mind is so powerful that we don't even use up to 1% of its capacity and even at that, we are still able to accomplish so much concurrently. Having said that, if you want to get something important done and it requires your undivided attention, multi-tasking may not help you to achieve the standard/quality you desire at the allocated timeframe. Multi-tasking has its place in our daily life and chores and so is 'single-tasking' - most people are quite versatile in applying these successfully.

Multitasking can be a good thing BUT must be good at both of the tasks being handled otherwise the output of all the tasks being multi'd well deteriorate sometimes to the point of having to go back and re-do the multi'd task. Thus loosing the very time (and often more) gained by doing them together in the first place. So get good at it before you stack it up with another task.

Hypnotherapy is an excellent resource for resolving stress and regaining a sense of balance. The seeds of our feelings of powerlessness are often sown in our early years when we indeed were, for all intents and purposes, powerless.