I am a master at multitasking, or at least I thought I was. Van life has that effect on you. You do so many mini tasks one at a time that you think you’re managing a million things well. Turns out, when I go into a house and have a lot more space to move around? I just start a million things. 

I have a feeling you know what I’m talking about. You definitely do if you’re ADHD. I turn around to see that I’ve opened the cabinet, but never got the coffee cup out. Unloaded half the dishwasher, but clearly saw something else that needed done between the silverware and top rack. 

Nothing made it quite as obvious this week as I began to take the dog out and realized I needed sunglasses. Then I remembered we needed more water in the fridge on my way to the table. I didn’t realize 10 minutes of tasks had passed until the audible sigh from the dog. He was patiently waiting for me to get back to the part that involved taking him outside to play. 

As we stepped out of the door, I remembered I needed to check my email. Instead, I opened a notification. After scrolling through several political headlines and two apps later, I had enough. I didn’t even have the energy to check my email any more. I knew I had to get back to it, but instead of trying to do 1 more thing I tried something different. I set a timer for 10 minutes and just played with the dog until it went off. No scrolling, no emails, no texts, and no work. Just me and dog. Throwing the ball. 

I loved how it made me feel. My brain was quiet for a minute, or at least a lot less urgent. I could think. Play. Laugh at his silly run. It felt like when you restart the computer and it starts working much faster, just for my brain. Bonus: it made the dog happy, too. 

Urgency has created this environment in my head where I think everything is a top priority. If I’m not doing anything? There’s this little voice in my brain that thinks I’m behind. Like, clearly if I have a few down minutes there’s something I’m supposed to be doing. That? Well, that’s part of the formula for burnout. I know. I’m pretty sure I’m still recovering from hitting the wall in December. 

While I don’t think I’ll ever give up on multitasking altogether, I tried single-tasking with other things this week, too. Whether it was a new client proposal for training or creating a new presentation, I gave myself a set amount of time to be singularly focused on that thing. To my surprise, I still got everything done. Faster, even, than when I was multi-tasking everything. Bonus: the outputs turned out better, too. 

Plus, the dog was happy.