Multitasking is problematic. It's a real thing, and study after study are showing that not only does multitasking slow your performance...it can harm your brain over time. I noticed that most of my older friends and colleagues remember when personal computers first proliferated and we all thought that multitasking was great. We seemed so much more productive with our new tool at hand....you took pride in announcing how good you were at performing multiple tasks at the same time. It was something that we all wanted to be good at.
The younger generation has a different problem...they don't know that they are distracted by multitasking. They have grown up using their eyes to move from screen to screen...back and forth...in their minds...distractions caused by their phones are not distracting at all, they're just a part of life. Go look at a group of high school or college students for a short time...the phones are moving around the group...each distracting the other with additional screens to look at. The idea of focus is really not to be explored.
If you are older like me...stop thinking that you want to be good at multitasking....and if you are part of the younger generation...please start to understand that the phone is a distraction.
I wrote a post about learning to deal with cell phone distractions, and it is one of the only ways that I've found to produce total focus for short amounts of time. The other strategy to advance focus is using time in the early AM to focus.
Coach Ball's Note: I love football practice and games. It is the only place that the phones are still looked at as a distraction and are not used at all. Could you imagine getting a new snap right before the snap of the ball?
The younger generation has a different problem...they don't know that they are distracted by multitasking. They have grown up using their eyes to move from screen to screen...back and forth...in their minds...distractions caused by their phones are not distracting at all, they're just a part of life. Go look at a group of high school or college students for a short time...the phones are moving around the group...each distracting the other with additional screens to look at. The idea of focus is really not to be explored.
If you are older like me...stop thinking that you want to be good at multitasking....and if you are part of the younger generation...please start to understand that the phone is a distraction.
I wrote a post about learning to deal with cell phone distractions, and it is one of the only ways that I've found to produce total focus for short amounts of time. The other strategy to advance focus is using time in the early AM to focus.
Coach Ball's Note: I love football practice and games. It is the only place that the phones are still looked at as a distraction and are not used at all. Could you imagine getting a new snap right before the snap of the ball?
Classroom Quote:
What sets disciplined people apart? The capacity to get past distractions. Focus on the task at hand.Bill Parcells is a Superbowl winning head coach and general manager.
– Bill Parcells
What could you focus on more?