The Lost Art of Multi-Tasking

I’ve noticed that it gets harder for me to focus and pay close attention to more than just one thing at a time.


When I was in high school I could be doing homework at the kitchen table while my mom and dad would be discussing their day or some bills or family matters; my brothers would be rough-housing with each other and my sister might be joining in with them or doing her own homework while talking to any one of us.

As always the television would be running in the background like some crazy, demented uncle just babbling to himself, no one really listening. Yet the TV always had to be on, that was a given.

Even with all of this going on around me I had no trouble concentrating on and understanding my homework while still keeping track of all that was going on in case my parents might mention going to the store; in which case I would put in my order for them to “bring me something”.

Then I got married and became a mother. Anyone who has been a parent knows

that you have to have a remarkable ability to multi-task. There is dinner to be prepared, laundry to be done, diapers to be changed, homework to be helped with, stories to be read, baths to be given, tears to be dried, knees to be bandaged, shoes to be tied again and again and again…those never-ending shoes to be tied!!! *sigh* and a husband to pay attention to as well, and the same demented Uncle TV babbling in the corner the whole time. Somehow, miraculously I managed to do all of this and do it well without losing my concentration and bandaging dinner while tying my husband’s shoes instead of the children’s!

Then I went back to school and again had to use my talent for multi-tasking and concentration during those study sessions with my study group when we would meet at the local El Torito and attempt to come up with a presentation while eating chips and salsa and drinking margaritas and listening to Mexican music and Mexican waiters and waitresses, not to mention the customers. But even this was a breeze; I think the margaritas really helped the most!

Then with degree in hand I landed a job managing a large insurance agency. Talk about having to have great concentration and the ability to listen to 100 things at once and keeping everything straight. But I managed to train and assist several agents, balance the books, prepare bank deposits, handle the VIP clients and keep my bored boss happy by pretending I really did care about what he was saying.

But I got tired of the rat race and the long 10 to 12 hour days and decided I would find something easier, 8 to 5, Monday through Friday, and I got the job I have now which is a breeze compared to managing the insurance agency.

I’m noticing though, that my ability to multi-task, to concentrate on more than one thing at a time, is diminishing. Sometimes I’m concentrated on one task and someone will come in and tell me they need or want me to do something and I see them talking, I see their lips moving, I hear words coming out of their mouths and I seem to be able to make the appropriate, “Oh, Uh-huh, I’ll get right on that” responses but then they walk out the door and I’m left wondering, “What the heck did they want? What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go? When am I supposed to be there?”

I also notice that while I used to be able to sit in my living room and read a book while listening to a TV show or sit at my computer and write a blog post while watching TV, I’m unable to do that anymore. If I read and watch tv I can get through the pages but not comprehend what I read, let alone remember what I just read. And blogging with the TV on? Forget about it! I now have to turn the TV off, even muting doesn’t help as I still have great peripheral vision and it’s distracting to me to see the flashing changes on the screen.

Could this phenomenon be the result of getting older? Is that just what happens? Or is this Adult ADD? Or is it just that I am out of practice in multi-tasking as this new job is so much more low-key?

I don’t know, but it’s frustrating because I have lots of TV I want to watch while I read and work on my blog. I also have emails that I want to read while I check my facebook, tweets I want to make while I bind policies. What’s next? I won’t be able to drive and listen to the radio at the same time? Walk and chew gum? Pat my head and rub my tummy?

Anyone else going through this? Have any suggestions other than locking myself up in a room with no distractions?