Breakfast with the news on. A phone call while cooking. A podcast while walking. Emails during a meeting. A series in the background while folding laundry and texting a friend.
We do so many things at once that doing only one can feel strange, even lazy. And yet many people, after a day of constant multitasking, feel strangely empty, as if they'd been everywhere and nowhere.
What the research says
Psychologists have long found that what we call multitasking is mostly rapid switching between tasks, and every switch has a small cost in attention and time. We tend to make more mistakes and feel more drained. Not every study agrees on every detail, but the general picture is consistent: the mind does best with one thing at a time.
What we lose
Beyond efficiency, we lose the experience itself. A meal eaten while scrolling is barely tasted. A walk with a podcast is barely seen. A conversation while checking a screen is barely heard. We were there, but not really.
How to practice doing one thing
Start with ordinary moments, the ones that don't matter much. That's where it's easiest.
1. Drink one cup of coffee doing nothing else. Taste it. Watch the steam. Look out of the window. 2. Eat one meal a day without a screen. Even just the first five minutes. 3. Walk somewhere without headphones. Notice the streets, the sounds, the people. 4. Listen to someone without planning your answer. Just listen until they finish. 5. Read one chapter without checking your phone. Leave it in another room. 6. Do one chore slowly and fully. Washing dishes, folding sheets, watering plants.
At first, your mind will itch to add something. Notice the itch, and let it pass.
What you gain
Not just focus. Texture. The day starts to feel fuller, because you were actually present for parts of it. And single-tasking is, quietly, a form of meditation: one thing, fully, with attention.
One letter, one moment
The First Letter is a short sensory meditation on receiving a letter: one object, one moment, nothing else. It's free to read or listen to, with a sample of my magazine, "(meditating) On Art". A perfect place to practice doing just one thing.
Remember to take as much time as you need, and meet me at the next one.
Love, Evi