Multi-Tasking and It's Effect on Decision Making

Via digg.com, I found this article from Newsweek about multi-tasking, over-stimulation and the problems it could cause you mentally.

When you get down to brass tacks, effortful thinking requires energy (blood glucose). Your brain is essentially an energy user much like a muscle. If you are exercising and begin to run low on blood glucose you will not be able to exert yourself as much and exercise will become less efficient. If you were to correlate this to cognition, it's easy to make the leap that over-extending yourself mentally will result in poorer performance and decision making (confirmed in part in the article above). So if you're constantly running your concentration down by mentally taxing exercises (reading a bazillion blogs, inundating yourself with media, trying to multi-task as much as possible) you're likely to be doing yourself a disservice by making concentration and decision making more difficult than it should be.

There is a lot to be said about simplifying one's life. I am very guilty of trying to do everything at all times, but I am starting to see the the other side of the coin. I've said to myself after reading fark.com or digg.com for an hour or more, "Am I any smarter for having read this stuff? Am I really going to remember any of this in a day? What benefit has this given me?" I'm usually pretty disgusted with my answers to those questions.

Here is one suggestion that I feel is pretty helpful.

Isolate yourself from distractions while working. Turn the cell-phone to vibrate, turn off e-mail notification, turn off all instant messaging, shut down your internet browser and work uninterrupted for xx minutes. It could be 10 for those who are terribly frazzled, it could be an hour and a half for those who are more disciplined. But the big kick here, is celebrate a job well done and take a few minute break. Relaxe, recharge, check out what those distractions were (check e-mail or phone) and then refocus on the job at hand. If you find your mind wandering, notice the distraction for what it is and let it pass. You will have time to deal with whatever it is later.

In a real job this is difficult to do as there are floor problems that need addressed immediately, in the hospital there are codes which need addressed now, and in the porn industry there's always a midget just waiting around the corner ready to throw a wrench (sometimes literally throw a wrench) into your well crafted S&M scene.

It always feels like I need more time for things. I don't need more time. I need more simplification. I need more discipline. I need to go read digg for another half an hour before I get back to work...

Pretentious quote of the day:
Dost thou love life? Then do not waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of.
- Benjamin Franklin -