Life after graduation is weird. I have way more free time now than a few months ago, when I was working myself to death finishing my graduate porfolio, but I’m by no means idle. Doing a lot of good work for RainTown, and working on Special Project (which I should hopefully be announcing in a real way soon).
Today, I feel like I’m doing a million things at once. Some of them include:
-updating my Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts so that I look Professional, Hire-able, and Awesome
-managing my spending habits and building a budget (using Mint.com, which is a pretty cool site)
-purchasing a domain name so my website (this website) looks more professional
-registering for KidLit Con 2011
-buying Sweetly, by Jackson Pearce, from Powells
-lurking on twitter
And that’s not even counting things like listening to music, making lunch, etc.
According to a study in Psychology Today, multitasking actually makes each task take longer, not to mention makes you a little crazy. This doesn’t really surprise me. I actually usually hate multitasking. I certainly can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. A good way to make me totally wig out is for more than one person to try to talk to me at once. I get crazy and annoyed, really fast. But, when it comes to the internet, I don’t give it a second thought. I think it’s because while I may have multiple tabs open at the same time, I’m really only focusing on one at a time. I may go back and forth, or I may switch to another one to look up a reference or find a link, but I’m usually only focused on one real task at a time.
For instance, I know I can’t multitask while I write. I normally have music going, but I have to turn it off when I write–or, at least make sure its classical music, techno, or something else without lyrics. Ambient noise is fine, as long as I don’t have to think about it.
I’m multitasking today because I don’t really have a set goal. There are a lot of things I want to get done today, and some of them are very related, but I don’t have something specific (like an assignment or an essay) to complete by a specific due-date. Such is working from home, I suppose. If I’m going to get anywhere as a writer, I need to be able to set my own deadlines.
I’ll pencil that in for tomorrow.
I doubt that multitasking works good for anyone who has something very important to do. These are facts – you have to stay focused if you want to reach your goal the best way you can.
Very true! It can be hard enough to stay focused even without outside distractions.