Savor.

When I asked my USC students if they would like to know a surefire way to avoid having to multitask, none of them raised their hands until, of course, I stood there in a long uncomfortable silence waiting for someone, anyone, to be curious.

What don’t we do along with something else?  Game of Thrones is watched while our “second screens” (phones, tablets, laptops) are in use nearby.  We shop at Safeway on the phone.  We text, we drive. 

No one is arguing that multitasking cannot be done simply that multitasking cannot be done pleasurably.

1. Doing 20% of our tasks gets us 80% productivity and yet we try to do everything at once.
2. We run on the beach, but don’t listen to the surf.  But there’s an app for ocean sounds.
3. We converse in between texting.
4. Email is like junk mail so why do we spend so much time with it while doing other things?

If life for you is a marathon to see how much you can do simultaneously then multitask away.

For more pleasure, watch Breaking Bad and do nothing else.  Pick the handful of things you must do today and focus on only doing them well.

Run without an ear bud in your ear.  You can listen to music after you’ve soaked up the high of great exercise.

Text away but not while you are conversing with another person.  Choose one.

Eliminate things that don’t need to be done at all (like most email) and simplify life.

Interesting that Millennials have discovered another gift – binge watching TV and movies.  I’m thinking this find was a necessary antidote for too much multitasking.

“Savoring is placing your attention on pleasure as it occurs” – Harvard’s “Positive Psychology”.

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