Multitasking mania: Getting a grip on life with just two hands

You sit down to make a note about a project, and the phone rings. While you’re talking, someone pops in with a question as the computer chimes the arrival of an important e-mail, and you remember you forgot to make dinner plans.

Whether it’s at work, at home or while out running errands, sometimes it seems like an extra set of hands would come in, well, handy. Multitasking is a part of modern life, and a lot of it seems to happen while people are on the phone.

Karen Hales, coordinator of media relations and print advertising for Slidell Memorial Hospital, knows the situation all too well. Busily cleaning her desk as she sat down to speak with a reporter recently, the mother of two commented on how multitasking is a normal part of her day.

“You catch yourself sorting mail while you’re on the phone or researching things on the Internet,” said Hales. “It’s a busy world, and somehow you just have to make it all happen.”

Hales is far from alone. In an independent survey of 500 women, commissioned by Motorola, 80 percent of women say they are engaged in another task while talking on cell phones.

The survey shows that multitasking is more prevalent with younger women:

• 97 percent ages 18-34 multitask while on cell phones.

• 62 percent of those ages 21-24 juggle two or three activities while talking on the cell phone.

• 27 percent of women ages 55-64 multitask on the phone.

The women surveyed said the most common activities while talking on the phone include:

• eating (62 percent)

• looking for items in the purse (60 percent)

• doing chores (55 percent)

• using the bathroom (48 percent)

• cooking (48 percent)

“There’s no question that today’s women rely on their cell phones to stay connected and multitask throughout the day,” said Severine Zaslavski, director of the women’s market at Motorola.

Hales’ life will soon get even busier. She recently committed to serving as a Daisy Girl Scout troop leader for a group of 16 kindergarteners and first-graders. Still, she said she’s a “big baby” compared to her colleague, Katrina Gougis, the hospital’s coordinator of public and governmental relations.

Gougis, also a mother of two, is currently carrying 12 credit hours at Delgado Community College while holding her full-time position. She’s also enrolled in this year’s Leadership Northshore class and involved in Junior Achievement of Slidell, and she serves as an ambassador for the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce. To top it all off, her husband works nights.

“I think we’re all busy, and we just have to prioritize,” said Gougis. “I’m very flexible, but if it’s not on my calendar it doesn’t happen.”

She said a good support system at home and at work helps considerably.

The hospital’s flexible scheduling allows her to take classes in the mornings and come in later in the day, and to work weekends when necessary, for example.

Studies are showing, however, that multitasking isn’t always the most productive way to do things. The following suggestions show how busy women still get things done with only one set of hands:

• Make a List. If you don’t know what needs to be done, how can you manage your time to do it? Write it out by hand, use some list making software – whichever works for you, get the list done. Crossing things off the list is visual proof that something got completed.

• Chunk it. Set aside chunks of time for specific tasks. You don’t have to drop everything to answer every email the second it arrives. Carve out a block of time once or twice a day to focus only on email. If you know you work better in the mornings, set aside a block of morning time to get the most important things done then. Breaking projects down into manageable chunks also makes it easier to get started on them.

• Let it go. Take a look at the list — there are probably things on there that you can let go of so that you can focus on things that are really more important. Simplifying takes pressure off and frees you up to be more productive.

Sometimes multitasking is just a necessity, and getting a grip on multitasking mania doesn’t have to be hard. It’s possible to find solutions that will keep you focused and connected. As Gougis suggested, setting limits will go a long way toward organizing a chaotic day.

A prominent sign in her office sums it up nicely.

“Lack of planning on your part doesn’t constitute an emergency on my part.”

Words to live by.