The Case for Multitasking
Productivity gurus right now would have us believe that multitasking is the enemy. That you have to focus on one thing… and one thing only.
But if there is just one thing and you’re not feeling it, then you have a choice. Then it’s either do that thing with resistance, or give in to our animal instinct of conserving energy and not do that thing. In both cases a suboptimal outcome: whatever you choose, you are confronted with negativity. In the first case this negativity is resistance because you’re doing something that you don’t want to do. If you’re lucky this resistance transmutes into inspiration, but hey, when are we ever lucky? It will feel like running a marathon, while carrying a sack of bricks. (Disclaimer: Don’t try this at home. The redaction will not view any videos of you attempting this feat. The author is not liable for any harm caused by attempting to run a marathon while carrying a sack of bricks).
In the second case, the negativity you are confronted with is guilt because you’re not doing that something that brings you closer to your dreams, but hey you had a long day and you’re tired so you’ll just watch some YouTube videos, but tomorrow you’ll work on it for sure! And then a year later you wake up and wonder where the months went.
But if there is multiple threads you can work on, multiple tasks, then you can reject 95%, and do the one thing that you feel like doing the most. In my case, in my online note-taking tool, I have a section with all ideas that I’m writing on, in various states of fleshed-outness. I can lazily scroll through it and continue on whatever I feel like writing on in that moment. I can just pick up where I left off last time. And next time, if I’m feeling another topic in that moment, I’ll continue on that, to be again saved for my future self at an unspecified future date. This way I can procrastinate, AND make progress. You can reject, AND advance. You’re always making progress on something, and it will feel natural, organic, resistanceless. And if you don’t feel like doing it anymore, you can quit and move onto something else.
There is nothing as gratifying as quitting and dropping everything while knowing that you have still been productive. Call it guilt-free procrastination. You can have your cake and it eat too!
And that way you can follow your natural motivation to certain tasks and complete the tasks you feel like doing the most, while in the end completing everything you must. You’re basically surfing on the waves of motivation, leading you to places strange and unknown.