Multitasking at it's worst
The root cause of scatterbrain and 'underachieving'
Something I’ve noticed about my own time is that I never actually change pace.
Take this morning. I made the effort to do a proper skincare routine, a small act of care, a win before the day started. Two steps in, waiting for a serum to absorb, I went to turn on the coffee machine. Checked my phone. Replied to a message. Put away some dishes. Opened a tab on my laptop for later. Then went back to my skincare.
A good intention, quietly dismantled. The self-care still happened, technically. But the quality of attention I gave it? Gone.
I feel scatterbrained all the time. And when I actually looked at how I spend a day, it made complete sense.
Wake up to an alarm, rushing, doing three things at once. Cycling to work while mentally running through a to-do list. Seven hours juggling tasks. An evening split between socialising, exercise, admin, cooking. Winding down in front of the TV while also on my phone, also doing something with my hands. Brushing my teeth while walking around putting things away.
Rinse and repeat.
It looks like efficiency. It is not.
According to Brown University, this constant task-switching taxes the brain in measurable ways. It tires it out and reduces our ability to focus even when we are not multitasking. It temporarily raises stress levels, blood pressure, and heart rate. It is linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression.
I never feel like I am doing anything to its full potential. Now I understand why.
What strikes me most is how invisible it has become. Multitasking is not something I consciously choose anymore. It is just the default state. The baseline. I do not notice I am doing it until I stop and look, and even then it takes a moment to register because it feels so completely normal. That is perhaps the most unsettling part. Not that we multitask, but that we have stopped noticing we do.
There is also something worth naming about what it costs us beyond the measurable stuff. When I split my attention across five things at once, none of them get the version of me that is actually present. My skincare routine becomes a gap to fill. My morning coffee becomes something consumed while standing over a screen. My commute becomes dead time to optimise. Even rest gets scheduled and stacked. At some point, the texture of a day just flattens out. Everything becomes a task to move through rather than an experience to actually have.
I think about this a lot in the context of creative work especially. The best thinking I have ever done has happened in moments of genuine singular focus. A problem I sat with quietly. A walk I actually took without my phone. A conversation where I was not simultaneously composing a reply in my head. Those moments feel rare now, and I do not think that is a coincidence.
The pull toward multitasking comes from every direction: social norms, social media, workplace culture, the general sense that busyness signals worth. We have collectively confused output with presence, and speed with quality. The person who is always across everything, always responsive, always on, gets quietly celebrated. The person who does one thing slowly and completely is harder to categorise.
But I have started making a quiet commitment to myself. One thing at a time, as often as I can manage it. Not perfectly. Not always. But consciously. A skincare routine that is just a skincare routine. A coffee that is just a coffee. A commute where I let my mind wander without directing it anywhere useful.
Small, almost embarrassingly small. But I am starting to think that is exactly the point.
It is a marathon, not a sprint.
Who is with me?