Multi-tasking is an illusion. We might juggle multiple activities, but we can only truly focus on one at a time.
Many car accidents occur because people get distracted with their phone, radio, navigation system or something else that takes their focus off driving. Try as you might, you can’t have one eye focused on the dashboard or your phone and the other on the road. It is one or the other.
But we try to deceive ourselves into believing we can successfully multi-task.
This produces less than optimal results and delays.
I’m reminded of a show I saw as a kid. A man used a long six-foot pole and started spinning a plate on the top of it, then he added a second pole and plate and a third and a fourth. He kept increasing the number of plates and poles and eventually the first one started to wobble. He dashed over to it, gave it a good spin and then continued adding more plates and poles. Before long more plates started wobbling and the man shifted from adding plates to running back and forth stabilizing wobbling plates. Eventually there are too many plates wobbling and one crashed, then another and then a huge cascading effect occurred of broken pottery all over the stage as plates crashed to the ground everywhere and the man gave up.
When we try to treat everything as a priority, then we are no better off than the man on the stage spinning plates like crazy. We might feel we have a handle on it, and we might for a little bit, but eventually all we are going to be doing is dashing from activity to activity doing the bare minimum because too many things are vying for our attention. And eventually things are going to start crashing around us.
You are not doing yourself, family, friends, teammates, or customers any favors by taking on too much at one time. Choose what’s important and focus on those activities. It’s okay to swap activities if priorities change, but don’t simply take on more. Either swap it or complete something before taking on the next activity.