I know, I know... that guy from The 4-Hour Workweek completely disagrees. Not a little, but a lot.
In fact, he says that multitasking is a productivity killer.
But how else can a busy girl get everything done that she needs to accomplish in the course of a very short day, and still have time to mountain? She can't.
Which means that I had to fire off a few text messages during my 3 hour conference-call / staff meeting yesterday morning... just to check-in with my peeps and let them know I missed them and can't wait to catch up for happy hour. Don't worry, I hid my phone under the conference table and looked down as if I was taking notes so my boss didn't even realize I was off-task.
Since I ran out the door without breakfast, I ate my apple with peanut butter at my desk after the meeting while I listened to voice mail, keeping my lunch hour free for errands, not eating. I bought a gift, paid a bill, and did my grocery shopping all in 45 minutes. Sah-weet! I even managed to separate my purchases into bags that could stay in the car and those that needed to go up to the fridge in the office while I answered an email in the self check-out line. With the few minutes I had left before heading back to work, I used my iPad to check out photos of all the new snow in town, courtesy of Twitter.
I stayed fairly focused in the afternoon, but I can't say that not multitasking improved my productivity at all. So I kicked it into high gear over the mountain pass on my way home, called both Mom and then Dad (2 separate calls even though they were only rooms apart) and then updated my Facebook status. (No! I did not text and drive. I would never do that. I used my Dragon Dictation app, of course!) Then I finished a chapter in my audio book, because heaven forbid I sit down and read an actual book, with pages and everything. Who has time for that?!
I talked to a friend while I cooked dinner, and sorted last week's mail while I ate. The laundry spun while I winterized the front yard. And as I wrote this, the clothes were drying, and I zipped through commercials in the TiVo'd Sisterwives. (Filmed right here on the other side of my mountain!)
I need more hours in the day. So much to do... so little time to do it. No wonder I don't have enough time to mountain during the week! Perhaps multitasking really isn't all it's cracked up to be, or maybe it actually is. But until the time-machine I'm building in the basement is complete so I can squeeze more snowboarding into my day, I'm not sure what other options I have. And don't even get me started on the things I didn't get done today - like shop for a new snowboard helmet, build a replica model of The Canyons resort in the snow pile in the parking lot, or play my guitar.
But there's always tomorrow... maybe if I just got up a little bit earlier?
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