How often do you climb into bed at night, feeling like you accomplished everything you wanted to that day? If you’re like me, your answer may be: Not often. Rarely. Hardly ever. Does anyone??
Instead, there’s always this sense that there’s just not enough time in the day to do everything that needs to be done. It’s frustrating when each day feels like a game of catch-up.
What is one to do? For many of us, multitasking seems like the answer.
But if multitasking was so effective, why do I still end each day feeling exhausted? Why do I still not get through everything on my to-do list? And worse, I feel disappointed that I didn’t spend much-needed time on self-care activities.
Can you relate? Do you ever feel like the days fly by, and you rarely get to do the things you need to do, much less the things you truly want to do?
Sadly, this is a reality for many, especially in our fast-paced modern lifestyle. Time scarcity is a real problem, even for those who believe they multitask successfully (although most people can’t multitask as well as they think).
But what if you have an autoimmune condition that drains your energy very quickly? Some examples:
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Fibromyalgia
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Multiple sclerosis
- Type 1 diabetes
- Celiac disease
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
When you’re dealing with health conditions like these, it’s not just a matter of a lack of time but also a lack of energy to tackle your to-do list.
After checking off one item on your list, you may feel tapped out and need to sit and rest for a little while. But then you feel guilty that you’re not being productive, so you start to feel anxious or depressed about not getting as much done as you need to or feel you should.
You might even try to push yourself to get everything done regardless of how exhausted you feel, which later results in a crash or burnout. Depending on the severity of your condition, this could last for several hours, days, weeks, or more.
I get it. I’ve been there. And sometimes, you may not have a choice but to push yourself despite knowing that you desperately need to let your body (and mind) rest. It can feel like a double-edged sword.
Do I try to do all the things, knowing that I will later crash?
Or do I take a break and spend most of it worrying about not getting things done?
Will people think I’m lazy if I stop to rest?
That’s another big concern, too, especially if you’re responsible for taking care of children or you work for someone else. Unfortunately, many employers and coworkers are often not very sympathetic to the need for rest when you have an autoimmune condition.
Anyway, I digress. So, back to multitasking.
The allure of multitasking is that you can get more done in less time. Anything that can help conserve precious energy is appealing when you have chronic fatigue.
But is multitasking really helping people with autoimmune conditions be more productive? Is it helping them save their energy for more enjoyable activities? Not necessarily.
The Downsides of Multitasking
Despite the widespread belief that multitasking is the key to optimizing your life, there are some downsides to consider:
1. Reduced Efficiency
Contrary to popular belief, multitasking actually makes us less efficient. The brain isn’t built to perform multiple tasks at the same time. When we switch between tasks, our focus and attention get divided, leading to diminished performance in each activity. This constant shifting of attention can cause errors, slow us down, and ultimately reduce our productivity.
2. Increased Stress
Multitasking can be mentally exhausting and stressful. Trying to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously can overload our cognitive capacities, leading to feelings of overwhelm and burnout. Our brains constantly switch gears, which increases stress levels and decreases our ability to focus and concentrate effectively.
3. Decreased Quality
When we multitask, we don’t give our full attention to any one task. As a result, the quality of our work suffers. Studies have shown that multitasking can lead to more errors, a lack of attention to detail, and lower-quality outcomes. By trying to do too many things at once, we compromise the quality we could achieve if we focused on one task at a time.
4. Impact on Memory and Learning
Multitasking can also negatively impact our memory and learning abilities. Constantly switching between tasks makes it difficult for our brains to retain information and encode it into long-term memory. Research has shown that multitasking can actually lower your IQ.
5. Impaired Decision-Making
Multitasking can hamper our ability to make sound decisions. When our attention is divided, we may fail to fully consider all the relevant information and weigh different possibilities. This can result in rash decisions, increased mistakes, and poor judgment.
As you can see, multitasking is not all it’s cracked up to be. And it’s not really advantageous to people with fatigue. Although it seems like the way to get more done in less time, it’s impacting the quality of your results.
Now, if it’s something you don’t really care too much about the outcome of, like when you’re just trying to pull together a quick dinner while also wrangling children, then I wouldn’t worry too much about whether the food comes out perfect. It’s important to pick your battles, and that’s not one of the most important ones, in my opinion.
However, when you look at the other disadvantages of multitasking, such as increased stress and impaired memory and learning, you may want to consider whether trying to cook while managing the kids is tapping you out and exacerbating symptoms of chronic fatigue.
And if it is, then you may need to look into other solutions. Like what, you ask? Well, my next post will cover that. Hint: It’s all about the art of single tasking. . . .
