‘The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.’ – Albert Einstein
You probably know someone who is good at multi-tasking. But are they really doing several things at once? Look closely and you may see that what they're actually doing is rapid task switching: rather than doing several things at once, they are doing several things, one thing at a time, but in quick succession.
With this sort of focused multi-tasking the brain is like a hotel room: one person occupies it and then moves out. Then another person moves in to occupy it. They are not both there at the same time.
If, like many of us, you find it difficult to multi-task, it's probably because you really are trying to do two things at once: surfing the Web while talking on the phone, writing while trying to follow a movie or composing an email while listening to the radio and eating a piece of toast.
Or, it may be that instead of focusing your attention exclusively on one task your mind is distracted thinking about the next task.
Your concentration isn't fully sustained on any of the tasks you juggle, so you end up using only a slice of your brain for each task.
To multi-task successfully, you need to do it mindfully. You need to do one thing at a time and focus on it completely. Then you move on to the next task or activity.
