I was driving down St Jean Road in Quatre-Bornes just last week when my cell phone rang. Almost automatically, I picked it up and answered the call. As I did so, the traffic cop on the other side of the road rushed forward, his hand outstretched. ?You can?t do two things at the same time,? warned the man wisely as he fined me for breaking the law.

The world over, we humans engage into what has become known as ?multiprocessing? or ?multitasking?. Who hasn?t heard of colleagues at work boasting unabashedly that they can juggle several tasks at the same time ? for example, answering their phone whilst scanning their emails whilst preparing a set of PowerPoint slides whilst having a cup of tea? If you were to ask them why they do so, you would get a standard set of replies ranging from the traditional ?It?s really no big deal, you know?, to the defensive ?How can I cope with the pressures of this job and get ahead in this company without being able to handle more than one task at a time?? to the philosophical ?Everyone does it around here.?

Multi-tasking has become the latest plague to hit us. As our world become sophisticated and pressurized, bosses are increasingly expecting their subordinates or teams to multi-task in order to become more productive and efficient. There are indeed many superiors out there who firmly believe that the few can be made to do the work of the many and in the process, save the firm a considerable amount of money. Recent research does not support this widespread assumption. It indicates that multitasking is actually counter-productive ? we become less efficient, run the risk of becoming more stupid and suffer from more stress. The scientific evidence points out indeed that trying to do two or three things at once or in quick succession can actually take longer than doing them one at a time, in full attention ? probably because we are more prone to making mistakes. Secondly, multitasking may leave us with reduced brainpower to perform each task. As fatigue sets in, we loose concentration ? particularly when the tasks involved are complicated and require much reflection. Finally, multitasking causes our stress level to shoot up, resulting in us often forgetting things, making errors, panicking and producing overall inefficient work. In short, contrary to popular belief, encouraging multitasking is the same as encouraging ourselves or others reporting to us, to waste time. Those amongst us who think that they are some super human beings capable of juggling many balls in the air are simply deluding themselves, no more, no less.

Traditional advice to those of us suffering from chronic multitasking has always been of a practical nature. It consists of tips such as

? Pay attention to your external world means by scanning your environment and weeding out recurring distractions such as constant background music, frequent interruptions or non-stop ringing phones.

? Learn to set priorities and deciding what is and what isn?t the most strategically important work that you should be doing right now and next, focus on this alone

? Complete your part of the job and next hand it off to whoever is the next person in the chain of responsibility.

I believe that a much better solution to those of us suffering from the effects of chronic multitasking lies in the art of attentiveness. Let us learn to pay attention to whatever it is that we are doing, thinking or feeling at any point in time, both internally and externally. Internally means being aware of what we are doing with our body at any moment during the day ? simple things such as the way we walk, sit, talk or eat. It means too being aware of the thoughts and feelings that we all experience, positive or negative. Paying attention externally means being aware of what is taking place around us ? from the light of the sun on the palm trees to a customer?s obvious unhappiness at being under-serviced. If we succeed in maintaining this attention throughout the day, a natural order and calmness is brought about that renders multitasking as irrelevant as our proverbial dodo.

So the next time we are tempted to answer our phone whilst answering emails and munching away a sandwich, let us remember the wise words of the Zen Buddhist who, when asked how one should live, replied: ?When you walk, walk; when you sleep, sleep; when you eat, eat. Keep doing this and within a few days, be born anew.?

<B>Prof E. Charoux

[email protected],mu</B>