Monday, August 04, 2008

Multi-tasking fog?

Here are the vents Dad installed in the attic...unfortunately, he put the thermometer up in the attic and it doesn't seem to be much cooler up there than it was before. :(


















I've been trying to figure out how to change how much time I spend on the computer. I'm not going to stop blogging, or stop using the computer altogether or anything, I think I just need to consolidate my computer time and not keep getting on the computer throughout the day so much.
Obviously on days I'm working I won't be able to anyway, but the rest of the week I'm thinking I should maybe follow a similar plan. Check my email and whatever else I have time for in the morning, and then maybe again in the afternoon when I'm home, and then in the evening. Not blogging really wouldn't help anything, because actually blogging and reading blogs doesn't take that much time. It's when I several times throughout the day scan though the rss feeds to see if anyone's posted something, or pull up a blog because they might have posted and it hasn't shown up in the feed yet...that's what takes my time. So I think as long as I cut down on how many times I check things during the day, I'll be doing much better. And then I can blog the next time I'm on the computer after I've thought of something to blog about.

Maybe in the Fall I'll take a whole week off of the computer completely just to see what all I can get done...but I don't want to do that now when it's nasty and hot outside! :p

Aah...bother...if I don't blog till the evening I'm going to have to write down things throughout the day...I've forgotten what I was going to blog about. Ho-hum...this is annoying.

Well, I have a whole post formulating in my head about the whole theory that blogging is dead. (I don't think it is, btw. At least not in all ways.) But I don't want to write that right now.

I was cleaning and stuff today and Gracie must have been bored because that annoying cat was "helping" me with everything! I was putting clean sheets on my bed and she was sitting on the bed getting in the way, then she went and lay down on the sheets in the dryer:









She doesn't usually get in the dryer. For one thing, the first time she did, I spun it around by hand so she'd know what would happen if it was running. It's not a big problem really, we don't leave the dryer open except when we're getting laundry out of it.

Then later I was lying on the floor doing sit-ups and she came in and immediately plunked herself down on top of me and settled down. She'd never be that cuddly any other time, but no, now she can be cuddly and an annoyance at the same time! Multi-tasking!

Oh, that's one of the other things I was thinking about. I think I really need to work on paying attention to what I'm doing right at the moment, and putting full care and work into whatever it is I'm doing. I have a tendency to always be thinking of something else I need to do, or want to do, or something I need to plan or figure out, instead of what I'm actually doing.
Of course, when doing that, I end up functioning on auto-pilot most of the time. And I think that's why I've been forgetting to do things, or forgetting what Mom's asked me to do. I'm listening, I hear what she says, but my brain is busy with something I need to do a little later, and so whatever she told me doesn't really process and I forget it.

That isn't going to be easy because I multi-task (or perhaps I don't?) by doing that. I'm wondering if it's one of those things where if I took the time to pay attention to what I'm doing, I would end up getting that thing done faster and actually have more time in the long run? The problem is, I like efficiency, and sometimes that's the only way I feel like I'm being efficient. Because perhaps I can't at the moment be running around getting things done, but at least I can think through things that need to be thought about, right? Sadly, that also leads to me being upset when people talk to me while I'm working and thinking, because I end up seeing that as a big interruption. It's not that what they said or did bothered me, it's just that it feels like "I'm trying to figure x out, and what I should do about y, and I need to being doing z right now, and now someone is throwing another question at me and I can't handle one more!!"

I just figured this out recently, because Mom said it seemed like I wasn't interested in anything going on in the family, like I was in my own world and couldn't be bothered. *sigh* Yes, I'm afraid I was. At least I've figured out what was going on, and maybe now I can concentrate on not doing that. Does anyone else multi-task that way? It doesn't seem like very many people could do that, or we'd all walk around in a fog...not that I do that all the time, just when I'm busy.

Anyway...concentrated computer time and attention to details. Hmm...the attention to details probably has something to do with the same reason my dad and I never read the directions before trying to figure out how something works. Or maybe not, maybe that's just cause we're pretty sure we know what we're doing. I'm not sure of the percentage of times that's worked vs. the times it hasn't though...so I'm not recommending that method for everybody. ;p

I still can't get the pictures to upload, so I guess this post will have to go without pictures for right now. Maybe I'll be able to get them up sometime tomorrow.

2 comments:

Jessica said...

I'd have to say I multi-task the same way you do, and as a result I get caught up in my own world as well, which frustrates my family. I am busy with things like swimming and improv, being with friends, reading...I do a lot of writing. And I play the piano a lot. Those sorts of things I just like to be absorbed in by myself (though, with the other people involved with them, like friends, swim, improv...). I get in my "zone", where I'll be sitting on my bed writing on my laptop, text messaging and playing guitar at the same time. Jumbled thoughts again, but I think I'm trying to say that that's the way I multi-task...if that makes any sense (probably not).

N said...

Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that, Jessica...not that that makes it any better, but it makes me feel better! :D

My dad told me the other day that I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached...I told him I could keep it on my dresser with the other stuff I have to remember. :D Ooo, that sounded weird written out...a head on my dresser...

Thank goodness I'm not that forgetful all the time! :P