This week, I felt vindicated. Probably to the point of smug, actually. Which is, perhaps, something I shouldn’t admit. But hey, they say the rise of social media (facebook, et al) has produced a culture of sharing. So I’m just being cultural here.

My moment of “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!” came while reading an article by award-winning author Angela Hunt in the ACFW’s recent issue of Afictionado. In the article, Hunt outlines 10 tips for time management. Being one of those people who is always wishing for a few extra hours in the day – but who, if granted those additional hours would likely spend them taking a bubble bath, reading and sleeping – I’m always up for a good time management tip. 

And that 10th tip, oh, it just made my day:

“Finally, remember this: multi-tasking is a myth. Be smart and learn how to focus,” says Hunt.

Yes! See, I’ve had this beef with multi-tasking for some time. To me it just seems ineffective. In the short-term it might seem like you’re getting more done, but in the long-term your work suffers. (This, I know. Exhibit A: This morning I thought I could make breakfast, start coffee brewing, unload the dishwasher and watch an episode of “The Facts of Life” at the same time. I ended up blowing up my maple syrup in the microwave. I heard this huge pop, the microwave went dead and when I opened the door, hot, sticky syrup dripped from the microwave, down the side of the stove to my feet. Nice. And it took me a good 15 minutes to clean up the mess.)

I mean, say I’m interviewing for a new job and Potential New Boss says: “Miss Tagg, this position requires an ability to juggle numerous responsibilities at once. Do you possess the required multi-tasking skills?” Fine. I’d give an intelligent-sounding yes and back it up with examples of my multi-tasking prowess. But it’d all be a mask for how I really feel. ‘Cause deep down, I’m convinced attempted multi-tasking can actually be one of the lesser efficient ways to getting stuff done. I do so much better when I can focus on one thing at a time – whether in my day job, my writing or plain ol’ housework (dusting and vacuuming at the same time just doesn’t work, my friends). 

But we’ve become such an attention-hopping society that we’ve turned this “myth” of multi-tasking into a desirable trait. What’s with that?

In Hunt’s piece, she quotes from an article by Christine Rosen, senior editor of The New Atlantis. The whole article is great. I really liked the intro:

“In one of the many letters he wrote to his son in the 1740s, Lord Chesterfield offered the following advice: ‘There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not time enough if the year, if you will do two things at a time.’ To Chesterfield, singular focus was not merely a practical way to structure one’s time; it was a mark of intelligence. ‘This steady and undissipated attention to one object is a sure mark of a superior genius; as hurry, bustle, and agitation are the never-failing symptoms of a weak and frivolous mind.’”

Go, Lord Chesterfield! Whoever you were, I like you. (I’d also like to point out that in this blog post, I’ve quoted Hunt who quoted Rosen who quoted Lord Chesterfield…a quote-within-a-quote-within-a quote. If that’s not literary skill, I don’t know what is.)

And get this, Rosen’s article references a business research analyst who estimated that “extreme multitasking – information overload – costs the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity.” Wowza!

In her own article, Hunt goes on to say: “When people say they are ‘multi-tasking,’ they are really switch-tasking – switching from one task to the other. And this is not an effective way to do anything.”

Amen, sister.

Problem is, the reality doesn’t necessarily wipe out the expectation of bosses, peers and the average Joe nationwide. So I guess the only solution is to, as much as possible, in our own lives identify those places where singular focus is possible – and then go for it. I actually did this last weekend – spent the bulk of the weekend Internet free and alone and had the most wildly productive writing weekend of my life. 

But it doesn’t always have to be that drastic. 

Sometimes it simply means paying attention to the microwave when you’ve got a potentially explosive liquid heating up.