Fortune cookie says: Control your multitasking addiction

November 6, 9:55 AMOakland Health and Happiness ExaminerSho Sho Smith

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Umm...no.

Photo by meddygarnet via flickr creative commons

Consider passive activities that, sadly, get turned into active ones - like going to the bathroom with your laptop. Driving - where you sit, steer and watch - takes little energy. Sleeping, even less. But if you're simultaneously texting, talking, planning the future and agonizing over the past, you are using too much energy for the current job. The consequence is disorientation, distraction, half-assed performance and early exhaustion. It is the price of uncontrollable hypermultitasking, the subject of this Stanford study, "Multitasking: Does It Work?" aired on KQED 88.5's Forum radio show. 

Mental/emotional energy is our only real currency, and we need to save every penny of it. To gain this level of control, practice checking in with yourself all the time, mind and body. If you hear your mind yelling in a quiet room, you're wasting sparks. If you're tense and knotted in a boring weekly meeting, you need to downshift into the present moment. When you surrender to your surroundings, you gain a chance to rest, collect energy, and be completely present for a relaxing change of place. Even if it means not reading on the potty.

For more health and happiness, contact Sho Sho Smith at whimsicaltaxidermy@gmail.com.