Multi-Tasking 2.0 or Why I'll be quittin' My Zombie Activities soon

Jessica — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:06:00 -0600

Multi-tasking has, rightfully I think, taken a lot of heat lately on the blogosphere. People still use the word “blogosphere”, right?

The idea is that trying to do several activities at once takes away from our ability to perform some function at our full capacity.

In this post Lifehacker Gina Trapani asks for multi-tasks that are effective.

The “problem” of multi-tasking is in its current formulation this:

We all waist time. We all procrastinate. I am sure that there is a pop psychologist out there researching this fact as we speak. So, the question then becomes, “How can we get the most out of activities that don’t require our best efforts?”

But of course, the best solution is not to answer this question, but to re-frame it. A better solution is most likely to take those things we tend to “veg out with” and creatively make them a part of our goals. Luis von Ahn has found a way to use humans for simple tasks that computers cannot perform. His ESP Game and Google’s Image Labeler allow us to work on two things (vegging out & tagging images) while only doing one task (playing the game). So, the new question is, “How can we engineer our lives so that if I had a bad day, I could still move toward my goals?” Oooh, tough one! I’ll have to get back to you. No, seriously! Come back; I’m working on that one.

In the meantime, here’s my suggestion for effective multi-tasking 1.0:

Mix an item from the first list with an item from the second, and BAM, you’re on your way to studying vocab in the shower! ;-)

Activities that tend to make me a Zombie

cleaning
folding clothes
exercising
riding public transit
listening to elevator music over the phone for 5 minutes while I wait on customer support
cooking dinner (some dinners!)
I can imagine using a breast pump being boring, but I don’t know… I’ve never had a kid
showering
for my fellow grad students out there, cooking ramen!
waiting on that one page to load
(fill in your favorite zombie-fying activity here)

Activities that Zombies can do without sacrificing performance or quality

read escapist literature, fashion magazines, podcasts
print out (yes, like on paper) some code and read, mark-up
customize settings on cell phone (for those of us who otherwise would have NO inclination to mess with our phones)
quiz self with vocab cards (which is, for most people, different than committing vocab to memory)
listen to German, French, Spanish, Chinese, whatever language you are trying to learn
knit
talk with in-laws, just kidding guys!
listen to music, unless you think you are a music critic or something. Gaw!
workout your forearms with one of those 1980’s hand squeeze device
DAYDREAM, its not bad for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a.muse: Tag productivity

Multi-Tasking 2.0 or Why I'll be quittin' My Zombie Activities soon