Multitasking is a myth. The human brain cannot perform two tasks that require high-level brain function at once. Low-level functions like breathing and pumping blood aren't considered in multitasking. Only the tasks you have to "think" about are considered. What actually happens when you think you are multitasking is that you are rapidly switching between tasks.
The cerebral cortex handles the brain's "executive controls." Those controls, divided into two stages, organize the brain's tasks processing. The first is goal shifting. This happens when you switch your focus from one task to another. The second stage is rule activation. This turns off the rules (how the brain completes a given task) for the previous task and turns on the rules for the new task. So, when you think you are multitasking you are actually switching your goals and turning the respective rules on and off in rapid succession. The switches are fast (tenths of a second) so you may not notice them, but those delays and the loss of focus can add up.
Multi-tasking IS SWITCHING BETWEEN/AMONG TASKS Shuhak. You don't know that?
In the morning I do laundry, fix breakfast, get on the internet, drink coffee, plan the menus for the day and start prepping them, answer emails, ask questions, respond to answers. I don't FINISH each task I PERFORM them and switch off from here to there to there to here to there to here to there. I don't just sit at the computer and focus on that. I don't just spend time in the kitchen and focus on that. I don't just do the laundry and focus on that. I do various portions of each of intermingling them as the time allows. EVERY DAY I MULTITASK. I have no idea what you do. Do you just sit at your computer for hours at time doing nothing but that or do you also get up and do other things switching back and forth until they're done? Why would you assume I meant anything other than that? I cannot brush my teeth and be typing on the computer SIMULTANEOUSLY. I cannot make the beds, vacuum, straighten up SIMULTANEOUSLY. I switch off until each is done. Boy that reply really surprises me. I'm gobsmacked.
This post was edited by RosieG at August 28, 2019 9:51 PM MDT
I focus on one thing at a time. That's just how my mind is wired. When I do something, I usually I get "into" it (another part of my perfectionist mentality). That's probably why I like writing.
Shuhak 