Are You Really Multitasking?

 

             I will distinguish what it means to be a multitasker and if multitasking exist or not. Multitasking is the topic discussed in the article Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control. I will explain to you how I thought I was a multitasker and the things I did to multitask. I will also discuss the article The Eisenhower Decision Matrix: How to Distinguish Between Urgent and Important Tasks and Make Real Progress in Your Life and explain the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. Then I will explain with details on how I used the matrix to distinguish between what is important and urgent to me. From both articles I have learned values that I can apply to my daily life that has changed the way I think and act.

 

             On average, thirteen to eighteen year olds use more than six types of media simultaneously outside of school (Sparks). The results "to pay continuous partial attention" to everything is the students will have difficulty concentrating on a deeper level with anything (Sparks). According to reseachers, the brain cannot be in two places at once. It takes longer to multitask than it would take to do two individual tasks (Sparks). Multitasking affects the decision making part of the brain delays when a person makes a choice. Multitaskers perform worse on memory and attention tests because being easily distracted compared to anyone who did one thing at a time. Text messages affect scores of the person taking a test when the person answers the message it switches their attention from the test to the phone. The person will forget all about what the test was about because the message was more important. The effect on the reader's attention when reading is interrupted the reader has to switch there attention to the phone or computer, read and understand the message, respond and then return to their reading. The original Marshmallow Test showed that few students had self-control and that the ones that did had academic and social success. Current researchers found that the results of test-takers responding to text messages are similar to the Marshmallow Test (Sparks). I don't think people are multitasker at all, because when people do try to multitask the job is not complete correctly and if the job does get done it's half done. People should not be taught to multitask because it makes th brain take longer to react. People will miss information or become easily distracted from multitasking.

 

             Multitasking is something I thought that I did everyday with just about everything that I was doing. It wasn't until when I read the article Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control by Sarah D. Sparks when I understood what multitasking really was. Some ways I would think I was multitasking was I would be cleaning up, then get on the phone, and after I was off the phone I would try to clean two things at once like vacuum and dust. Another way I thought I was multitasking was with some school work, I would try to work on all my assignments for different classes at the same time, tell myself I had to be done with all of the work by a specific time, and also eat a snack or listen to music while doing the assignments. I would multitask with watching TV and talking on the phone with my boyfriend, this was hard because I would end up missing some part of the conversation. Lastly, a way I think I would multitask the most is when I am driving because I have to pay attenion to what I am doing, watch the other drivers, I would chanege the radio station, sing along to the songs, and try to figure out the quickest way to my destination without speeding. Therefore, I believe Sarah D. Sparks because I thought I was multitasking when really I was just becoming easily distracted.

 

             In the article The Eisenhower Decision Matrix: How to Distinguish Between Urgent and Important Tasks and Make Real Progress in Your Life I learned the difference between urgent and important and about the Eisenhower Matrix. The time management grid designed by Covey was created to organize a person's priorities. It has two main categories which are important and urgent. Important describes activities that lead to the achievement a person goals either professionally or personally. Important achievements will make a person be in a responsive mode, rational, or open to new opportunities. Urgent activities need immediate attention or the achievement of someone else's goals. Urgent task put a person in a reactive mode, negative, hurried, or narrowly-focused mindset. The article says that our ancestors focused more on short-term concerns rather than long-term strategy. Modern technologies provide people with an abundance of information, which has heightened our "engrained mindset." The technologies that we have treat all information as if it was equally urgent and important. Douglas Rushkoff says we are "present shock" which means a person's mindset is always on now and we lose long-term narrative and direction. By always living in the now it makes it hard for a person to distinguish between important and urgent. Stephen Covey popularized the Eisenhower Decision Principles in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey created a decision matrix which helps people to do things done easily. Covey's creation of the time management was to create time to focus on important things so they won't become urgent. The importance of activities that a person does will help them find time to fit in less important activities. The matrix is a square that it divided into four quadrants: 1. Urgent/Important, 2. Not Urgent/Important, 3. Urgent/Not Important, 4. Not Urgent/Not Important. Quadrant one is where tasks are Urgent and Important, which require immediate attention. Examples are emails, paper deadlines, chores, etc. Quadrant two is where tasks are Not Urgent and Important, these activities don't have pressing deadlines but the activities help you achieve your goals. Examples are weekly or long-term planning, family time, studying, exercising, date night, etc. McCay says "we should seek to spend most of our time in quadrant two activities". Quadrant three where tasks are Urgent and Not Important, these activities require attention now and don't help you achieve your goals. Most of the tasks in quadrant three are interruptions and involve helping other people to achieve their goals which is not necessarily important to you. Examples are phone calls, text messages, most emails, etc. Covey says "many people spend their time on quadrant three tasks while thinking they're working on quadrant one" (Covey). Quadrant four Not Urgent and Not Important, these activities aren't urgent or important and do not help you to achieve long-term goals, mostly distractions. Examples are watching T.V., browsing the Internet, playing video games, on social media sites, etc. Spend more time on important tasks, learn to distinguish between what's urgent and what's important.

 

            After learning about what is important and what is urgent from Eisenhower's Decision Matrix, I have now made some changes in my life. I learned that I should spend most of my time in quadrant two. Quadrant two provides me with happiness, fulfillment, and success with that I can achieve all my goals. I have now made a list of what values along with the goals that matter to me the most. My family comes first and I have recently started the process to be dual enrolled at TNCC and NSU for the upcoming semester. I set deadlines for myself early for assignments so I will have them done earlier and have more than enough time to review and revise all assignments. To make sure that I stay focused I have started weekly planning on a calendar. I write down my activities in order of importance: family time, studying/completing assignments, cleaning my home, exercising, reviewing my day and planning ahead. By staying focused and making a change it helps me to achieve my personal goals, educational goals, future goals, and helps me in improving me. I now know that once I finished doing everything that is important and urgent there is always a little room left for me to do other activities in the other quadrants.

 

            From the articles I have learned values that I can apply to my daily life that has changed the way I think and act. I know that I am not a multitasker and that I was only distracting myself from what I was doing. By using the matrix I learned the difference between important and urgent. The Eisenhower Decision Matrix helped me to understand what matters to me so I can achieve my goals and manage my activities.

 

Works Cited

"Studies on Multitasking Highlight Value of Self-Control." Education Week. Sarah D. Sparks, 15 May 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/05/16/31multitasking_ep.h31.html?tkn=PTWFGpBwR5o7bKrnCvQZswL8Vr%2B1UoJB%2B62c&cmp=clp-edweek>.

 

"The Eisenhower Decison Matrix: How to Distinguish Between Urgent and Important Tasks and Make Real Progress in Your Life." The Art of Manliness. 13 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/10/23/eisenhower-decision-matrix/>.