Multi-tasking for fun and results

Multi-tasking for fun and results

Multi-tasking has a bad rap

In reading articles about the problems of multi-tasking, I generally agree with the authors when it comes to the specific examples they cite:

texting while driving or walking
checking your phone while in conversation with another or listening to instructions
paying some attention to a news program while working on your taxes
and many more

Multi-tasking creates problems when the quality or results of the activities you're combining is importantly degraded by doing them together.

Be smart about multi-tasking

Many activities can be combined that either occasion no significant degradation or can even improve results or quality of tasks involved.

For example, right now I am composing this text on my 53-inch TV screen, functioning as a monitor for my Mac mini. I am also standing on my whole body vibration machine as it jiggles me quickly and gently back and forth. Two tasks at the same time: working on this site and exercising on my whole body vibration machine (see video). Neither one is interfering with the other. In fact, I suspect that I am more alert and focused on this composition because of the stimulation of the vibration machine.

Multi-tasking can make both Next and Now happier

Of course, Next is going to be happier if more than one thing is accomplished at the same time, assuming quality is not significantly degraded. And, I've noticed, Now is happier and more agreeable too. Consider two reasons for this: Next's additional excitement infects how Now feels. Secondly, in some circumstances, Now would feel bored if just doing one activity at a time. But when doing two or three at a time, Now finds it more interesting.

Taking my supplements and dancing a bit

Currently, December 3, 2020, I take 29 different supplements in tablet or capsule form. As I swallow these, I am washing them down with a water-based mixture of taurine, citrulline malate, creatine monohydrate, red beet powder, maca, nutritional yeast, diatomaceous earth, ground flax/chia seeds, and spirulina.

If I take these supplements, which takes at least 15 minutes, without doing anything else at the same time, Dwight-Now is often "waiting for it to be over." But when I combine it with music, example: "All About That Bass," and dance around a bit in the process, Dwight-Now is moving and grooving.

Three times the accomplishment: my Now and my Next are a happy couple

In this photo you'll see that I am multi-tasking three items, all done in the space of about six minutes.

First, I'm exposing my face and hands to red light therapy.
Second, even though I am sitting, my feet are resting on another whole body vibration machine. My legs are getting a good workout.
Third, I am spooning out and eating the contents of a super green smoothie, not the most tasty. The blended ingredients are:
- three different leafy green vegetables
- 10 grams of fresh lentil sprouts
- 50 grams of black sesame seeds
- 35 grams of hemp seeds
- 35 grams of sunflower seeds
- 25 grams carrots
- two cherry tomatoes
- a slice of lemon peel.

How do I get more than an hour of reading in almost every day?

I prepare my own food. Then I sit down to eat by myself. While eating, I am reading from my Kindle, almost always books about understanding life and how we humans and the world work. I pay attention to enjoying the taste of my food. Additionally, it's easier to chew more slowly, which is healthier, than I would if I were only eating. This is because Dwight-Next is not so interested in "being efficient" by eating faster, since he is happier with accomplishing both eating and learning at the same time.

Look for things to multi-task

Be smart about it. A lot of things you shouldn't multi-task.

Be creative. You can find various tasks that you can do at the same such that both your Now and your Next are happier and more cooperative.

What?

AskDwightHow.org 365/24/7

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