Our attention spans are decreasing, our ability to concentrate is suffering and a large part of the blame is due to the forgotten art of single tasking.
Multitasking on a daily basis is ruining our focus, and without focus we can never hope to achieve flow state.
As part of the Incredible You! series, we have been exploring flow state.
Flow state is the point of nirvana, the nexus where calm meets performance. It is the moment where everything you have learned is transformed into a ballet of symbiotic events, each one clicking into place with elegant simplicity.
As you flow beautifully from one moment to the next, every passing moment is infused with an intoxicating timing, that feels almost supernatural. Yet somehow also the most normal thing in the world.
When we are in this glorious state of being we call flow, we are not consciously thinking, we are not consciously being, we just are.
At its zenith, it is almost like we are a spectator to our own deeds, watching as our 'other selves' perform to perfection.
We can witness the most obvious instance of flow state when we watch athletes at the top of their game. A person who has found their flow on the sports field is a beautiful thing to watch. It manifests as a form of physical poetry in motion, being woven and spun right in front of our very eyes.
It is not just in the realm of sports that you can find yourself being tugged by the captivating whirlpool of flow.
In our everyday lives we carry out tasks that are so ingrained into our behaviour, that their presence remains forever impinged upon our DNA.
Whether it is playing basketball, or driving a car; debating a friend, drawing a picture or writing an article, the chance to reside in your flow state forever sits within your grasp.
Today we will talk about utilising the immense power of single tasking to induce your flow state.
It could be argued quite successfully, that single tasking is the most important skill you will learn when it comes to achieving and staying in flow state.
I want to tell you about ninja single tasking techniques, however first we must understand the mechanics of single and multitasking, and how they effect our cognitive function.
It is through understanding that we can use our intellect to overcome the imperfections of our evolutionary biology. Cryptogee
Defining Multitasking
Before you learn how to effectively single task, it follows that we should understand fully what multitasking actually is.
Multitasking is not simply the ability to do lots of things at once, we are quite capable when it comes to carrying out a number of things at once.
The human brain uses a form of heuristically, hierarchical, co-optive pattern forming in order to learn and perform tasks.
Put simply, when we carry out a task neurons in our brains fire, and those that fire together, wire together.
For instance in order to drive a car, you are required to carry out several mini tasks. They range from paying attention to the road, to steering the car and everything in between.
As you learn to drive over time, the various small single tasks that need to be carried out in order to make the car move, slowly merge into one mega-task.
So as we can see above just looking at four of the many skills you will need to master when driving that at first driving a car is about acquiring and mastering lots of individual skills.
At that point you could say technically we're multitasking.
After a number of lessons we jump to the next stage of learning, where we are competent but have not quite mastered the basics.
At this point our individual skills are not quite merged, we're still aware of the different components, we are now multitasking. However all the tasks are related to one activity so this is not true multitasking.
Once we have passed our test and have been driving for some time, all of the individual tasks collapse into one big mega-task.
So if the brain works like this; then what's the problem with multitasking; why get so fixated on single-tasking?
We have evolved so that simultaneous lateral thinking about a number of related tasks and problems are second nature.
It is perhaps why we mistakenly think that it is also a good idea to mix mega-tasks with each other.
For instance trying to text really complicated relationship advice to your friend, whilst driving a new car, on a new route, to your new job in advanced Martian economics would be a bad idea.
This is because each mega-task requires hundreds of smaller tasks. So in reality you are attempted to do hundreds of things at once which relate to two things.
So you are asking your brain to sift through all of these conflicting signals in real time without making errors.
Like attempting to fry a perfect egg whilst surfing, something has got to give.
Flow state is virtually impossible to achieve in multitasking mode.
Your Very First Flow State
It is important to understand that you are more than capable of using single tasking to achieve flow state. This is because you have been doing it since you were an infant perhaps as young as six months old!
We are born with the ability to move our limbs and our digits, but not the muscle mass or hand eye coordination to move around.
Eventually we gain strength and balance and a large portion of us start to crawl (some of us shuffle along on our backsides, and some skip straight to walking).
When we do start to crawl we all, at once become aware of the multiple factors that will allow us to crawl.
From positioning and shifting our weight, to balancing in varying positions, all the way through to moving our limbs in the correct sequence.
As a child as you first learned to crawl and later to walk, you were essentially single tasking.
You were a baby in flow state, and you had achieved that state by single tasking over and over again.
Nice going kid!
A Case For Single Tasking
So now we know that generally when we're talking about concentrating on one thing at a time, we really are saying; one group of things.
If we are concentrating on a group of events that all relate to one single mega-task, then we call that single tasking.
Multitasking is the process of switching attention from one mega-task to the other.
Switching attention in this way arrests latent redundancy in the brain, causing it to remaining on full alert. This ultimately leads to fatigue.
In some ways the brain can be said to be like a huge office building with lots of different departments.
The people within the departments need to meet with the boss (you) on a regular basis.
A single-tasking boss only ever has meetings with departments on the same floor as each other, because their duties are very similar.
A multi-tasking boss has meetings with people from all different floors regardless of their job title or role in the company.
In the second instance, each meeting would be very exhausting and confusing for all involved, with a lot less time to get everyone's agenda across.
In order to keep things short, sweet, and to the point (especially as we're talking about concentration and focus!) I have split this subject up into three articles, I figured this was better than a 4000 word article.
So In the coming articles we will look at the science behind multitasking and how it fatigues you, then we will dive straight into how to practice and ready your mind for single task success.
The next two articles in this mini series are:
- Incredible You! Single Task Training - 3 Steps To Flow
- Incredible You! Single Task Training The Final Test -Becoming A Flow Jedi
The Incredible You! Flow State Series:
Incredible You! - Feeling The Flow With The Power Of Touch
Incredible You! - Connect To The Moment And Enhance Your Power With Sound
Incredible You! - Move Like An Animal With Ido Portal
Incredible You! - Finding Your Flow State Superpower
WHAT ABOUT YOU GUYS; DO YOU STRUGGLE TO STAY FOCUSED? HAVE YOU FOUND ANY OF YOUR OWN LITTLE TRICKS AND TIPS TO HELP CONCENTRATION? WERE YOU EVEN AWARE OF THE POWER OF SINGLE TASKING? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!