Episode 664: The Art of Doing One Thing at a Time

0:00A lot of people pride themselves on multitasking. In fact, we kind of celebrate it. Like it's a badge of honor. We treat the ability to do several things simultaneously as a sign of competence and efficiency. But the research on this is really unambiguous. When we do multiple things at once, we do all of them worse. And today, I want to talk into the counter-cultural act of just doing one thing at a time. Welcome to your daily hit of Grace and Grit, your quick dose of inspiration to kickstart your day. I'm Courtney Townley, and here is today's hit. Research consistently shows that what we call multitasking is actually task switching. Rapidly moving attention between tasks,

1:00rather than truly doing them simultaneously. Each switch carries a cognitive cost. There's a lot of studies that suggest that heavy multitaskers are actually less efficient at switching tasks than those who focus on one thing at a time. And that the quality of output on each task is measurably lower when attention is divided. This is verifiable across cognitive science literature. We have built our entire productivity culture around an ability that does not exist. And the cost isn't just efficiency. It's presence. When your attention is split, the reality is you're never fully anywhere.

2:01You're doing everything halfway. And I think this really matters for your health in a very specific way, because so many of the behaviors that support health require presence in order to reap the full benefit. So eating while distracted means you don't register your fullness properly. You ignore your satiety signals. Exercising while mentally elsewhere also means that you miss really important cues from your body. Even sleep is affected by a mind that cannot stop switching between tabs. Now, I've shared this many times on the show, but I'm someone who moves fast and thinks fast.

3:01And single tasking does not come naturally to me because I have practiced multitasking for so long. Single tasking is really a practice I have to consciously choose. And it often feels incredibly uncomfortable. Almost like I'm being unproductive, like it's wrong. I often try to convince myself I should be doing more. But something happens when you stay with it. The quality of your attention changes. You start to actually inhabit what you're doing. Food tastes different when you're not also reading something. A conversation often goes somewhere real

4:01when you're not half checking your phone. Work that felt resistant opens up when you give your full attention rather than just a fraction that was available at the time. So single tasking really isn't a productivity tip as much as it's a quality of life tip. The experience of our own lives changes when we're actually fully present for it. So today, as you move through your day, try picking one activity and do it without anything else happening simultaneously. So maybe that's just eating meal, going for a walk, having a conversation. Maybe it's a work session.

5:01But notice the resistance of being all in. Notice the temptation to distract. Notice what you want to reach for. And then notice what is available when you don't reach for. What you're tempted to reach for. Because presence, once you taste it, has a way of making the fractured alternative feel like a very poor substitute. And the truth is single tasking is not slower. It just feels that way at first. What it actually produces is better work, better relationships, a better relationship with food, and a better experience of being alive. None of those things are small. So again, today at least once, do one thing. Not almost one thing.

6:01Like be fully in with one thing for a period of time. And see what becomes available in that full attention. I bet it will surprise you. If you dig this kind of conversation around intentional living, I would invite you to come check me out over on Substack, where I go live every Tuesday at 8.30 am, to share how I apply my work, and specifically a lot of principles from my book, the consistency code, to my own process, and to my own life. I've been getting a lot of great feedback about this series, and it just might be something that you read benefit from. So you can check me out at a little bit of Grayson Grit over on Substack, or just check out my name, Courtney Townley, and you'll find my account. If this stirred something inside of you, you'll find a whole book of clarity and courage could ignite.

7:01The consistency code, a midlife woman's guide to deep health and happiness, goes even deeper into the mindset and practices that create real, meaningful change at midlife. Grab your copy today over at theconsistencycode.com and keep the momentum alive.