To compartmentalize means to divide in categories, separate sections, or spaces.
Multi-tasking is when you perform two or more more tasks simultaneously.
Functionally, when you’re trying to do something – they are opposites.
Does having a conversation with your spouse work when you?re checking email on your smart phone?
With so many choices available in our modern world, the phrase multi-tasking was borrowed from computer technology and thought an effective way for human living.
But the human brain works best when focused on one thing at one time. Starting and stopping – or switching – is what occurs between tasks. Continuous multi-tasking may be contributing to shorter and shorter attentions spans.
Completing tasks and feeling happiness occurs in single compartments – not in simultaneous moments.
Folk wisdom includes:
- Too many irons in the fire
- Who follows two hares catches neither
- To do two things at once is to do neither
When you take 100% responsibility for your thoughts, actions, and interactions with others, you are essentially compartmentalizing.
It takes Gumption to say no to multi-tasking.
Are you willing to say, “No” and take responsibility for your thinking, getting thinks done, and improving your relationship with others?