Multi-tasking

@Lustig Andrei,

that would really depend on the type of position, no?

my receptionist better be able to multi-task.

my barber, not so much.

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I definitely think it's a gender thing. Men are linear thinkers, women are lateral thinkers. Men needed to focus on the hunt while women needed to mind the kids, pick the berries, pound the grain, etc etc etc.

Neither of my husbands could drive and have a deep conversation at the same time... they could barely answer simple questions - they were 'concentrating'!

Multi-tasking doesn't mean you start several things and pop around to each from time to time to accomplish them; it means (to me) that you can perform several functions at the same time, like preparing dinner, helping your kid with homework, discuss your finances with your husband, and plan tomorrow's shopping list, while in the back of your mind, a great gift for someone occurs to you, you debate it internally, and make a decision. This is very common in my family, which is all female. We also leap from topic to topic and understand how we got there while my husbands could never follow our conversations.

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@Mame,

I can't disagree with you. There are enough times that my wife has to explain the plot of a complex murder mystery on TV. Sad

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@Mame,

I fit what you are describing, Mame, I'm always making lateral passes - but I'm not so clear that women are always lateral thinkers and men never are, men always linear and women never are.

I don't have any statistics at hand, you know, not being linear and all, but I think there are gradients of both in humans; I could buy that more women are lateral thinkers, but am iffy on "it's a gender thing" as almost an ultimatum. I do buy it's a brain thing and men and women tend to fall into different camps as a generality.

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@Lustig Andrei,

I am a multi tasker (most women are) and I wear many hats, one of them is hiring people and I'd take a multi tasker any day over someone who does
one thing at a time. In business there is no such thing a doing one task at a time only, one has to do many different things and - surprise - finish them all.
As I said, most women do - it's not to say that things don't get finished, but we prioritize and get the things done that need to be done...the rest is for you guys who concentrate on just one thing Smile

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@Mame,

One supposes Mame from to general tone and even from the logic of that that lateral thinking is superior to linear thinking and as it is an essentially female attribute it follows that women are superior to men.

I can assure you that in my prime I could perform a number of tasks at the same time and that whenever I had the opportunity of displaying this skill the lady I was demonstrating it to was as linear as linear gets.

I can easily drink a pint of beer whilst explaining the essential aspects of the thought of Jacques Derrida, or Emmanuel Kant, rolling a cigarette with one hand, amusing a bored lady sat with a husband using nods and winks and subtle gestures of the facial muscles, and carrying on a separate conversation about the tactics of the players in the football game on the TV. Easy. If the ingredients and equipment for preparing a meal were to be brought into the pub, as an experiment, I could prepare a dinner without hardly thinking about it.

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@spendius,

Well, you're just a special case, spendius!

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Agreeing with others that women tend to be able to multi-task at some kind of higher level than men.

It's not better, just different.

To be fair, my ex-boss honestly thought she was a great multi-tasker, when in truth she just didn't listen to half the stuff going on, and got a large portion of what she did listen to wrong....all while thinking she was working and paying attention to everything around her.

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Here's the thing regarding what Mame and C.J. have said: I have no trouble switching gears and letting go of one unfinished task temporarily in order to take up another, in order to put out a fire, so to speak. My point, I think, is that most multi-taskers are really obsessive about it. It's like they don't think they're being productive if they're not already planning out tomorrow's menu while sending an e-mail to Aunst Hattie re: yesterday's doings.

Typical conversation between my wife and me --
Seaglass: "Well, haven't you even thought about where we'll park downtown?"
Me: "Hell, no. We're not even there yet."

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@spendius,

Brats and buns, eh?

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@Lustig Andrei,

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@Lustig Andrei,

I used to multi-task well. I believe now though that I have so much to do that I find I have to narrow my focus. The more that is on my plate the more I find I walk around like I have one foot nailed to the floor. Nothing gets done. I get overwhelmed.

So - I don't multi-task as much as I used to. It is a little frustrating when I used to do it so well. But I am okay with slowing down...I would much rather do one thing right than do a lot of things wrong.

I actually think the fact that I can't multi-task anymore is from adult onset ADD. I can't focus like I used to. Is that possible? I wonder why?

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@mismi,

AND - I do much better mult-tasking after a glass or two of wine...

but maybe that is just MY perception. After a glass or two of wine everything seems better.

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@Lustig Andrei,

As I said, switching gears is not multi-tasking. It is not stopping one thing to do another. Multi-tasking is doing several things simultaneously. If you can't understand the concept, it's obvious you don't multi-task.

And we're not obsessive about it - it's just the way we're wired. It's not better or worse: it just is. I , personally, prefer it, but then, I'm female and that's the way I'm wired, so it's natural. I'd rather do a bunch of things at once in a couple of hours than one thing at a time and take all day. But not everyone is like that or has that kind of energy or mindset or even interest to take that on. I just happen to, as do a lot of other women.

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@Lustig Andrei,

And yeah, I'd be thinking ahead about the parking ( for the time of day and area of town) so I could get in the right lane for the right turnoff etc. I always wondered at my ex who would be in the middle lane, way back behind 50 cars, when no one was in the empty right lane - I'd have moved over as soon as I saw that line up and maybe gone a different route but no.... he'd just be putt-putting along ... and when I'd mention it, he'd say, "Oh yeah" and he'd move over... he was focussed on driving, not driving efficiently. That could be just him, though. But talk about frustrating.

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@mismi,

They say it's our conditioning to the internet. Whoever they are.

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@ossobuco,

Really. Huh. Dang.

I wonder if that's true?

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@Lustig Andrei,

Lustig Andrei wrote:

Here's the thing regarding what Mame and C.J. have said: I have no trouble switching gears and letting go of one unfinished task temporarily in order to take up another, in order to put out a fire, so to speak. My point, I think, is that most multi-taskers are really obsessive about it. It's like they don't think they're being productive if they're not already planning out tomorrow's menu while sending an e-mail to Aunst Hattie re: yesterday's doings.

Typical conversation between my wife and me --
Seaglass: "Well, haven't you even thought about where we'll park downtown?"
Me: "Hell, no. We're not even there yet."

Question.
When you're driving to downtown, surely you're not solely thinking about the road in front of you?

Driving itself is a multi-tasking act, as you've got to be paying attention to and reacting many times a during even a short drive. You're not thinking "Now I'm taking my foot off the gas. Now I'm going to put it on the brake...Plus, you engage in conversations while driving, so you're doing a lot of things simultaneously.

Don't sell yourself short.

If you weren't multitasking, you wouldn't even be able to take the best route into the city, from where you start, as you must at times while driving decide to take a different route than originally planned, let's say because of traffic, and you don't get hopelessly confused.

Why haven't you thought about where you were going to park, if that is apparantly an issue?

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@Mame,

Mame wrote:

And yeah, I'd be thinking ahead about the parking ( for the time of day and area of town) so I could get in the right lane for the right turnoff etc. I always wondered at my ex who would be in the middle lane, way back behind 50 cars, when no one was in the empty right lane - I'd have moved over as soon as I saw that line up and maybe gone a different route but no.... he'd just be putt-putting along ... and when I'd mention it, he'd say, "Oh yeah" and he'd move over... he was focussed on driving, not driving efficiently. That could be just him, though. But talk about frustrating.

That's waaay different from multi-tasking, Mame; that's just good driving. What you just described about being in the correct lane describes what I do automatically, knowing where the turn-off will be. My wife, when driving, is often too busy multi-tasking, talking about what we'll do when we get there, to notice that she's about to miss the turn unless she scoots over fast, with other cars honking like crazy. That has little or nothing to do with it.

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@chai2,

When I'm driving, Chai, I concentrate on driving. I know how many cars are behind me, I can easily predict who's about to try to pass in a 'no passing' zone, whether the guy on the right is about to cut in for a left turn etc. etc. I am concentrating on everything that can possibly happen and on my role in it. I am NOT giving any thought to whether there will be a valet parking attendant or how much I'm going to tip him if he's there.

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