A friend gifted me a guided journal for calm, clarity, and joy. The prompt for the other morning asked me to write about a recent multitasking experience. I am the queen of multitasking, so it was hard for me to really hone in on one experience--until yesterday.
I recently signed up for a knitting class for beginners on Saturday afternoons. On Friday night, I sat down to do a little "homework," and I thought it would be relaxing. Unfortunately, I sat on the couch it in front of the television. I completed one row, and when I inspected it, I realized I made a mistake. I was a little frustrated, so I decided to put it aside and wait for class.
The next day, I entered the class a little sheepish because I had not made any progress on my project. Sure enough, I had messed up the pattern I was supposed to be following--knit 1, purl 1. Somehow, I also split one stitch and twisted another stitch.
Charlotte fixed it all, and I started knitting my scarf, listening to my friend share about her son's heartache about a recent break-up.
I finished the row and turned it over to check my work. Ugh! I had made the same mistakes.
I Put my head in my hands and waited for Charlotte to finish helping another knitter as I had no idea how to fix my mistakes. She was very encouraging and told me I did an excellent job overall. She fixed my mistake yet again and sent me on my way. This time I vowed to pay close attention. I was even talking to myself as I stitched my knit 1, purl 1, but as soon as I stopped talking, I lost track of what I was doing.
I had to check in with Charlotte again. Apparently, I was seeing things because it was okay. Feeling a little more confident, I continued and started humming to the music playing in the background. I finished the row only to find another mistake.
Frustrated, I took a deep breath and said, "I can't talk or sing or watch television while I am knitting." I realized that multitasking was causing me to make mistakes, and I thought of the journal prompt and the following quote, "Multitaskers make twice as many mistakes and take 3 times longer to complete their tasks."
Now, this explains why I forget what people tell me, forget where I put papers, and forget why I go into a certain room. My mind is thinking about a bazillion things all the time.
I need to stop and focus on one thing at a time, at least until I know what I am doing. 😉
Heather, I like that quote. I'm pretty sure it is true: "Multitaskers make twice as many mistakes and take 3 times longer to complete their tasks." Sometimes I am listening to something while I write, which is not a great idea (except for music.) I have had a movie or show on while I'm writing, and then I find I didn't get anything out of it. Then, if it's important to me, I have to watch it over. You will get good enough with knitting that you will be able to successfully do it while you watch. My daughter even takes her knitting to the movie theatre. She is so good, she can do it in the dark.
ReplyDeleteSo great that you are learning something new! Learning to knit is on my list of new things I would like to learn. I think you mentioned a good point- it is hard to multi-task when you are learning something new. You need to focus on the task. I think this is an important message to share with students.
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