a person multitasking with computers, phones, dumbbells, books, multitasking to save time image

Save Time by Multitasking?! Stop Doing Things At The Same Time Now!

Take a breathe, realize that time is not against you, it is moving along with you. Don’t worry.

Apple Bottom Jeans

I know for some youngsters out there, having to gain knowledge from a philosopher born in 1643 can be considered irrelevant. Especially being that they are known as a person whos head got hit by an apple one day and curated an understanding of gravity as we know it today.

However, I think it does withhold a great benchmark or understanding to which time is described. According to Isaac Newton in his book, “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica”, translated to Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, he stated that:

“time flows equably without anything external

What does that mean Adib? I have no idea.

harry potter time-turner merchandise piece from universal studios japan
harry potter time-turner merchandise piece from universal studios japan

Also just a sudden coincidence whilst writing this. I got a chance to hold a Harry Potter time-turner merchandise keychain piece from universal studios Japan. First, it’s sick very2 cool. Second, What a coincidence that I would write about saving time and was given this to check out 🙂

so, What Is Time?

It is everything, yet nothing,

We created it, yet we drown in its circumstantial existence,

One thing is for sure, it is never in our control,

Time moves and so should we.

The process of time is literally unstoppable. It is not an entity, it cannot be seen, but it exists nonetheless.

It Bothers Me Too

stress image, guy screaming image

I figure that there is no more time to be wasted, thus everything should be quick and efficient. No activity should be taken lightly. Every step, every thought and every task must be intentional, because so much has not been achieved in my time on this earth, at least that is what I tell myself.

Do you agree? Does this sound familiar? Yes or yes?

It seems as though, there is less and less in this already short and albeit sometimes saddening life, that we can truly experience in peace. It is always a rush, a constant pursue towards the goal, whatever that may be. A source of worry that I have always had when let’s say discussing on my future career path, or belief in my efforts, or even having goals in the first place is,

it is too late.

It is merely too late for me to attempt anything, an achievable milestone for the coming year, a simple task for the day, or even internal difficulties in my very own mind in having no belief in myself. It is too late, or is it?

You Thought Isaac Was Irrelevant? Know This…

I’ve been living recently. I know it sounds stupid, but I haven’t been this aware or present in so many moments of my days, in realistically years. Through these recent times, I have noticed that my thinking has been clearer. I am able to create rather than ponder.

Wooh that’s a nice name for a brand or something. I think I just like anything with ponder it just sounds good. Once I thought of “Oats & Ponder”, then today is “Create or Ponder” cool ahahaha. Okay okay back to the topic.

Through this “creating phase” I have slowly learned to learn multitasking as a skill. It has helped me accomplish things much faster than before.

Or so I thought…

As per usual, we all want to save time. The finite nature of it helps us pursue a goal, a venture, or even a loved one, as life isn’t forever. However, as of recently, I had realized that I am losing more than I am gaining.

Let me explain.

Multitasking

multitasking image

I know you know that I know you know what this is

Multitasking is a common time saving method that involves engaging in and managing multiple tasks or activities simultaneously. It’s like being a skillful juggler who effortlessly handles various objects in the air.

a) In everyday life…

In everyday life, multitasking might entail doing different things concurrently such as:

  1. talking on the phone while preparing a meal
  2. watching a show while exercising.
  3. going for a jog whilst listening to a podcast

b) In the workplace…

Similarly, in the workplace, multitasking is often a necessity or rather a requirement.

Handling multiple projects or assignments concurrently, having to seamlessly transition between them. It requires individuals to effectively allocate their time, attention, and resources across different activities to meet deadlines and achieve desired outcomes. Certain examples of multitasking would be to:

  1. responding to emails while participating in a team meeting
  2. handling phone calls while working on a report
  3. attending to urgent requests while simultaneously managing ongoing projects

Multitasking in this context involves quickly shifting focus, adapting priorities, and efficiently dividing one’s attention to ensure progress on multiple fronts.

Overall, multitasking is good, right?

c) For me, multitasking is…

However, through my personal experience with this, this method to save time caught me by surprise at how bad it really was. The example is something you may have experienced yourself. Recently I had set a goal to accomplish 100 pushups a day to get myself back into the routine of moving around on an hourly basis, and easing into working out again.

Simple right? 100 pushups a day. Divide that by all the hours that I would be awake, it is quite doable if you think about it.

The issue comes when I wanted to do this new goal, at the same time doing my already accustomed morning dzikir. The idea was to somehow implement dzikir into each repetition (or number of pushups). Either that, or to perform dzikir in between each repetition.

Nonetheless, I wanted to do them at the same time, in the same moment. This was such a bad idea.

d) What makes it so bad?

I realized very early in the multitask, that I was, neither focused on my workout nor was I really in tune with my dzikir.

Just to give you an idea, a proper workout would require you to have good form and a steady mind and muscle connection. Meaning, as you activate, or rather tense up your targeted muscles beforehand, you perform the workout with priority set to those muscles. So, if I were to do pushups, I would activate my glutes, back, arms, shoulders (any relating muscles), and then perform the workout.

This ensures that every repetition or every time you do a pushup is meaningfully beneficial. Thus worth your time. Because it would be better to have done 10 reps of good formed, activated, slow and methodical pushups, than to just drop on the ground and aimlessly move up and down to aim for a high rep count.

On the other hand, my dzikir. Needless to say, dzikir isn’t difficult by any means. You simply repeat the same prayer a number of times, say 33 times, and you are done. But the issue in this case, arises when considering my values as a person. My morning dzikir would be my time to find comfort in God. I find myself very gradually, yet effortlessly easing into the day with this morning routine. I get to ease into the day. Similarly to pushups, their is mental effort required when meaningfully praying, or in this case dzikir.

The issue with this, is I feel non-present when having to remember how many pushups are left. In another case, that I would forget my dzikir as I needed to focus on the pushup at a moments notice.

e) The Opposite?

two ways, which one, which way, one way, two paths, two ways,

But I figured that this is not actually saving me time, but reducing the quality of my time spent.

I was not focused on each repetition of my pushups

I was also not present in each dzikir

As for now, I am trying and have been trying to be more present and live a more “in the moment” life, to be aware and here. If that is the case, why should I do 2 differing activities that don’t assist me in that pursuit? In being more aware?

After realizing the lackluster quality in both activities performed, I stopped.

Decided to do dzikir and only dzikir. Once I had finished that, I continued on my the set of pushups for the morning. What I found was that my morning dzikir was a mental focus driven task. Teaching me to adhere to the “boredom” of repeating the same term over and over, yet realizing the inherent benefits of it. That it teaches me to take it slow, take it one step at a time and be in the moment.

Similarly to my pushups, I had direct focus in preparation and pre-activation of the targeted muscles. My mind was focused, making sure my form was good, that I was moving at a proper tempo, fixing any misalignments or improper technique that would make the pushup less affective than what it would be otherwise. I managed to maintain mind and muscle connection, and that made me internally joyful.

Science said whatttttt 🤯

Football fans are shocked by a game-changing offside during France-Belgium semi-final UEFA National League match

In order to find some credibility to my viewpoint, I decided to look up multitasking as a whole. The ups and downs of it. What I had found was tremendously similar to my personal experience. That even with the abundant usage of this method by most people in everyday life, it seems to not work for all tasks as affectively as once thought.

Actually, it isn’t purely bad for you or your productivity. In short, it should not be considered a one size fits all method to save your precious time, but should only be deliberately considered when most beneficial to the tasks at hand.

According to the American Psychological Association:

the article written stated that, multitasking can actually hurt your productivity over the totality of the combined time taken for the tasks to be done.

Multitasking is seen in society as the solution to any issue in regards to saving time, but that’s not a clear case in all activities. Situations such as talking to a friend on the phone whilst organizing your gaming setup probably won’t lead to anything harmful for example. However, tasks such as driving whilst using your phone could lead to a car crash or worse, even death. The human mind and brain are not naturally equipped to handle intensive multitasking.

Moreover, multitasking can include changing from one task to another quickly. To test this, they issued a task-switching experiment. Task-switching experiments help us understand how much time it takes to switch between different tasks and how the difficulty and familiarity of tasks affect the time overall.

Incorporating one heavy task right before having to change your focus to another heavy task could lead to non-beneficial use of time. In layman terms, focusing on 2 things at once wastes time more than saves time. Contrarily, directing focus on one activity with one continuous flow of consciousness generally leads to completing the tasks quicker.

Final Piece of The Puzzle

Final puzzle piece hovering over position.

Multitasking involves 2 stages in “executive control”, Goal Shifting & Rule Activation.

Goal Shifting means to change your thought process from the current task to another task. As an example, we would think:

“I want to stop doing pushups now and start doing dzikir”.

A few seconds later, “Alright, I have done 10 dzikir. Let’s change focus to pushups again.

Rule Activation refers to the rules of each activity that you have to enable and disable at whim. For example, pushups require activation of targeted muscles, proper form, and awareness in doing it safely. Dzikir on the other hand, requires focus and determination, even remembering where we left off. As an example, we would think:

“Pushups are done, I don’t need to activate my muscles anymore.

Let’s sit upright and put our entire focus into dzikir”.

Changing activities means to change the rules of the activity in our mind. This takes time for our brain to adjust. Which leads to even more time spent than intended.

TLDR;

The mere want to save time leads to activities that are done with no quality. So, for you the reader, what should you do? How do you determine a multitask-able task? Well, I would say:

  1. If you feel that each activity is not done properly or rather with lack of focus, stop entirely and choose one to do for a period of time.
  2. 2. If you find that the activities done in parallel is dangerous, stop and prioritize the most important and safest task at hand.
  3. If you notice that you are taking longer than usual because of multitasking, well stop. Redirect your focus to the most important task first, and simply go.
  4. Realize that multitasking DOES NOT HAVE TO WORK WITH EVERYTHING. It does not. It works within easier tasks but heavy tasks sometimes need primary focus.

The Nail In The Head *Bonk*

A bit more difficult, but determine your personal values. Are you cleaning your house because because you care about the cleanliness of your domain? Or you’re doing it just to show off a fake persona that you are a clean person. If it is the former, then i assume cleaning takes priority to let’s say watching a television show. However, if it’s the latter, you may be internally satisfied to do a mediocre job at cleaning or even doing something else entirely.

Nonetheless, there is no right or wrong answer, there is only your answer. Find your values and you will see what is important to you.


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Checkout my first ever blog post here. It’s not great, but it was my first huhu

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