Of Two Minds

By Janice Lane Palko

No one can serve two masters – Matthew 6:24

Did you know that back in the mid-1800s doctors did not wash their hands between examining patients? In 1847, Ignaz Semmelweis, a doctor in Hungary, noted that if he cleaned his hands with a chlorinated lime solution in the maternity ward after dissecting a corpse, it drastically reduced fatal childbed fever. The “experts” back then were offended by his discovery and had him dismissed from his position. They cited their status as being gentlemen as preventing them from spreading disease.

In the 1950s, doctors recommended smoking cigarettes as beneficial for health. Lord Kelvin, noted physicist, predicted in 1883 that X-rays would prove to be a hoax. In 2007, then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer predicted that no one would want an iPhone. In the early 1950s, Variety magazine predicted that rock ’n roll would be dead by 1955.

History is replete with instances where the experts have been wrong.

In my own life I’ve even witnessed this. One area where the experts have been wrong that comes to mind is multitasking. Not too long ago, every expert was touting the benefits of doing several things at once. Numerous books were written by those in the know about how beneficial it was for productivity, a company’s bottom line, and even your personal life. 

The concept came from computers, having different programs functioning at once, but we’ve come to discover that the human brain is not like a computer processor. Sure, humans can do two things at once like walk and chew gum, but we’ve come to realize that to do multiple projects simultaneously, is not optimal. 

As a mom of twins, multitasking came naturally to me, but I’ve learned, along with the rest of the world, that multitasking is a brain drain. In fact, a recent article by Kendra Cherry, MSED on the website Very Well Mind, states that “Multitasking takes a serious toll on productivity. Our brains lack the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time—in moments where we think we're multitasking, we're likely just switching quickly from task to task. Focusing on a single task is a much more effective approach.”

I find when I have to switch between two functions that need my brain’s attention, it takes a while to get back up to speed when resuming another project. Therefore, I’ve been making a concerted effort to concentrate on one task at a time, and I don’t know if I’m more productive, but I feel so much less stressed. 

Brain function becomes more of a concern as we grow older. Have you ever had trouble remembering something like a name? Who hasn’t? Unless there is an underlying medical condition, most people have that happen because our brain is stuffed with information. The older we get, the more our brain must sort through information to retrieve what we are looking for. I’ve heard its likened to when you are young, your library has only 100 books stored in your mind, and the “librarian” in your brain can easily access what you are trying to recall. However, by the time you are older you have thousands of books stored in your head, and your “librarian” has a lot more places to look in your brain to access and retrieve the desired information. 

So, you may want to give your brain a break and concentrate on one task at a time. Let that librarian in your brain retrieve on one thing at a time instead of sending the harried librarian running from shelf to shelf. 

Your recall may improve, and you may feel less stressed. But then again, I’m no expert.