Multitasking Myths & The Phenomenon of Focus

Until very, very recently, I prided myself on the fact that I could multitask. I felt I had one of the greatest skill and could handle myself in any situation. I can also say that I had a chip on my shoulder and felt that if someone, specifically in the workplace, did not have this skill then they could not make it. Pretentious? Yes!

Happy to report that I am out of that mindset. Take a walk with me while I explain how I started thinking differently about multitasking. While there are many positives to the trait it is interesting to see how our traditional form of multitasking affects persons with learning disabilities like dyslexia and ADHD and how simple strategies in focus and lend light to seemingly overwhelming task.

The Eye Opener

Typical day at home…

My daughter is maybe 6 or 7 years old. We are going about our regular day. I say, “Can you put this bowl on the counter?” She starts the task. I continue, “Bring the pen on your way back and see if the light is till on in the room”. “Did you remember to put the toys away?” “Where is the green folder? Bring it – thanks!” In the space of a few minutes or maybe seconds, several tasks are given along with several questions. It used to annoy me that she could not get all that in one go. At this point, she has possibly done one of the things I blurted out or is standing confused. I am ashamed to say I had no patience and, more importantly, no understanding of why this child could not just do what I asked. Scenes like this would usually end badly. She would shut down or I would shout. Ignorant? Yes!

Then came the year after. Awareness of Dyslexia, ADHD and other learning disorders have entered our lives. The journey of research has begun. I started reading up on different ways to “help your dyslexic child”. I can still recall being taken aback when reading about simple things to do at home. It was amazing to see that what I considered “normal” instructions was in fact overwhelming for my child and I was in fact making the situation difficult.

One At A Time

And so the research continued. One instruction at a time, one lesson at a time, one question at a time. Full disclosure, I am still working on this. It is still hard. I am, however, more mindful of the effects of barking several commands at a time to someone who cannot process it.

Slowly we started transitioning to positive changes. Slowly I was able to recognize that I had to ask for one thing at a time. It worked, it made a difference. The changes were small. It is so easy for us to look at others and wonder why they just can’t do something, or more importantly, do it like us, in our time in our way. Going through this growth with my daughter really has made me so aware of things. Even at the office I slowly started to appreciate others and things that would annoy me before now resonates differently. In fact, when others lose their patience with “slow” workers, I get annoyed and try to reiterate that we are not all the same. Improvement? Yes!

Calendars & Planners

Calendars, planners, to-do lists and all these go hand in hand with taking it one step at a time. I’ll explain. While my brain was still moving a mile a minute and spitting out tasks and reminders, I had to find common ground and slow down. I started with the simplest act – writing it down. This quickly turned into chore lists and activity calendars on the refrigerator. This lasted for years. It eased the daily schedule as everyone could easily see what was ongoing on any given day. With kid #2 coming right behind with her own schedule, color coding the activities and to-do lists became a necessity. The color coding was fun and visual and this is a great aid for persons with dyslexia and ADHD.

The best part is that this actually helped. With activities listed, everyone know what to pack for school and this eased the stress of having organize every single minute of every single day. Of course, there were days when no-one read the lists- obviously!. But there were more good days than bad. While it will not solve all the problems, the calendars, planners and lists can assist your child in getting organized, accomplishing tasks and remembering things that may have ordinarily been forgotten. Fast forward to today, with one kid in high school and the other almost finished with grade school we have migrated to online calendars. Using Google Calendars and Family Link we now all access these shared resources on our phones and tablets which this generation loves so it’s a win-win.

Focus Mode

Continuing on with technology, my daughter, now in high school actually started using this herself and taught me about it. I heard her saying one night while she prepared to start homework – “let me put my phone on focus mode”. I was like “what is that?” I am sure most of you know about this already but it was new to me. This is a feature on the phone similar to airplane mode where when turned on you are not alerted by social media and other apps. You can set it to work on the apps that you need it to. I observed her successfully retrieve homework, using the same phone and complete work while limiting her distractions using Focus Mode. Brilliant? Yes! And this one, she did all on her own.

While this may not work for everyone, limiting distractions while trying to complete a task is important. Before Focus Mode, we removed or switched off all devices during homework or revision, we sat in quieter rooms, away from the television and way from windows with activities ongoing. These were our manual focus mode steps.

Concluding – the Myths of Multitasking

Being able to multitask is not all it’s cracked up to be. We really are not doing two or more things at the same time. and forth put, we are just able to move back and forth between several tasks without losing focus. Is this really productive? That’s a story for another time. While a dyslexic may not be able to multitask, it does not mean that the same tasks cannot be completed. They may just to focus, make a list and take it one step at a time.

I would like to encourage anyone to share their stories in the comment section below. I do hope that something in this article was helpful to you and please, feel free to reach out.

Chat soon!

Dee J.