Slow Motion Multitasking
Want to Know the Secret to Enhanced Creativity? It’s Slow Motion Multitasking
Embrace the art of slow motion multitasking. Not because you’re in a hurry, but because you’re in no hurry at all.
I happened upon this YouTube video of author Tim Harford, and I am wowed by the simplicity of his logic. I am equally amazed to realize that I have been doing this very thing, but I was doing it wrong sometimes. In the words of Tim Harford, “We’re used to lapsing into multitasking out of desperation, we’re in a hurry, we wanna do everything at once.”
I now realize I have to slow down and not feel hurried. Savor the experience, the learning, the time spent on each project. That’s Slow Motion Multitasking.
But I want to add to this principle the value of setting deadlines. Slowing down does not necessarily mean giving yourself an unlimited amount of time to finish projects. I work better when I set a deadline for myself.
Yes, I multitask. But if I don’t set a deadline, I will forever be writing and reading and creating without producing any output or book at all. If we don’t produce or accomplish anything out of our efforts, then, it’s just wasted creativity, don’t you think?
Highly creative people are found very often to have multiple projects in progress at the same time, and also, far more likely than most of us to have serious hobbies. ~ Tim Harford
Here are my takeaways from Tim Harford’s lecture:
Slow Motion Multitasking
What it is: Having multiple projects on the go at the same time, moving backwards and forwards between topics as the mood takes you or as the situation demands, but in slow motion.
Reasons Why Slow Motion Multitasking Can Work
Creativity often comes when we take an idea from its original context and move it somewhere else. Think outside the box, and shift from one box to another.
Learning to do one thing well can often help us do something else. It’s possible to cross-train our mind like athletes.
It can provide assistance when we’re stuck. (e.g., writer’s block, etc.) Bonus: It helps lessen stasis, stress, and avoid depression.
How Not to be Overwhelmed by Multitasking
Simply organize projects by either physical boxes, notebooks, or digital tools.
If we want to become better in what we do, maybe we should spend some time doing something else. Tim HarfordBBC Broadcaster and Author
Watch Tim Harford’s YouTube video on Multitasking as a Means to Enhance Creativity
FREE! THE ESSENTIAL AUTHOR PLANNER — A Simplistic Perpetual Planner for the Minimalist Author/Writer
Want to read the series of my posts on GOAL SETTING? Find them here:
Goal Setting Part 1
Goal Setting Part 2
Goal Setting Part 3
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