When a Weakness Masks Itself as a Strength
Answer me this: What is one of your greatest strengths? I’m positive most people have heard this question at least once in their lifetime. Whether at an interview or in an online quiz, droves of people have probably listed multitasking as one of their greatest assets.
In some ways, it truly is. There’s a fine art to juggling a long list of tasks. Not everyone has the skill. The only issue is it may not be as efficient as we assume.
As I grow older, I’ve learned there’s more to multitasking than a few finished tasks. Science has proven that our human minds only complete tasks one at a time, whether we realize this or not, meaning the advantage we think we have when juggling 30 to-do items doesn’t exist; it only leaves more room for disaster.
As someone making attempts to be as present as humanly possible to achieve a healthy state of mindfulness, multitasking suddenly becomes the wrong move.
What makes this even harder is when most of our professional roles promote multitasking, leaving us no choice but to be a jack of all trades. Mind you, it took me a while to recognize the detriment of all that multitasking.
It took reckoning with my depression and anxiety to understand why I latched so tightly to my multitasking ways. As someone forever ruminating on my fears of the future, I had to learn to take the deepest possible breath, calm those thoughts, and return to my present moment. I’m far from a master at it, but with a bit of mindful practice, my multitasking gets thrown out the door.
Suddenly, like a newborn, I discovered the absolute joy of taking things one step at a time. Putting full focus on the tasks at hand turns all that pent-up pressure into shining results. When you sow the perfect seeds, you reap immaculate benefits, starting when you live your life from moment to moment.
By the way, this doesn’t mean I’ve thrown out doing one thousand things at once. Life’s a work in progress, and I’m still gradually growing like my fellow human beings. And yet, life has taught me that the artful sin of multitasking can actually lead to euphoria. It can force us to slow down and take life one second at a time.