One Thing at a Time

I multi-task. I multi-task, A LOT. I'm a multi-tasker. I used to think, "Hey, I'm such a good multi-tasker!" But recently I've realized that I actually must multi-task. I'm now a multi-taking addict.

Exhibit A: The browser tab. I never ever ever have only one browser tab open. Minimum is probably four. One for email, one for pandora, one for calendar, one for blackboard, one for Google reader, one for the local paper or the NY Times or a google search for "public sewer department, NY," one for the episode of House that I'm listening to illicitly in the background while I work. You get the idea.

Exhibit B: The Lab. I used to think I was extremely efficient in lab work. Back in college I was almost always one of the first people done precisely because I multi-tasked. I seem to have taken this too far. Sometimes I am: doing a titration with one hand and eyeball, reading feministing.com with the other eyeball, making calibration solutions in between and also listing to streamed mpr.org I think my lab technique is suffering.

Exhibit C: The home. Laptop on lap, seven browser tabs open. Excel spreadsheet behind. Father on Phone. Attempting to communicate with Lion via facial expression. The latter usually backfires resulting in me getting in trouble for not paying attention to her. She is always right about this.

When I wait for a website to load, I get jittery. I think it feels like what it used to feel like to drink too much coffee, back when drinking too much coffee felt like anything. I can't seem to focus on just one thing. I suspect this might cause me trouble in med school. So, starting now, I'm instituting a one-thing-at-a-time policy. At least for a few weeks until I get a knack for it and can trust myself to find a better balance. Maybe this means that sometimes that one thing will be this blog. It's much easier to focus on when it's the only thing open in my web browser.