I have always prided myself on being efficient.  Give me 30 minutes where I’m not taking care of children (or my husband, for that matter), and I can conquer the world.  I love the feeling of accomplishment and that sweet satisfaction it brings me as I fall asleep.  In fact, one of the hardest things about moving to the UK was the lack of efficiency.  I’m not trying to be the stereotypical arrogant American, but I will say that a country that rains more than Seattle, gets less sun than anywhere I’ve been, and is as far north as Moscow does not seem to be the ideal place to not have clothes dryers.  I can handle not having dishwater- I can physically scrub, rinse, and dry them myself in less time than a dishwasher, so that’s NBD to me at all.  However, I can not physically air dry my clothes.  There is nothing I can do to speed up this process.   Granted using the radiators does help, but that also costs us- we joke that we’re here for a PhD, not an MD.

I digress, as usual.  My point is this- part of being efficient is multitasking.  Why not make a phone call while washing dishes (that’s what the shoulder is there for, right?)?  Or, why not prep dinner while the kids munch a snack and are relatively contained?  Or why not watch a girly DVD while on the elliptical?  I guess for me, I kind of got to the point where it was getting more challenging to draw hard and fast boundaries.  I mean, I stay at home so I can rear our kids.  That’s the point of me giving up the job I loved- it wasn’t a hard choice for me- I loved my kids more.  For me, that was the best choice.

So, I find that the god of efficiency (and therefore multitasking) has robbed us of quality time and even thorough results. For example, that phone call while washing dishes was not as thoughtful as it could have been.  The dishes weren’t as clean as they should have been.  That time with the kids sitting, smiling, and enjoying life was missed while I cut some vegetables that could have waited.  I am beginning to agree with this website:

Simply put, multitasking is trying to do too many things at once… Pressure in the modern workplace leads many of us to think that if we can do two things at once, we could save time, take on more and be more satisfied. What actually happens is that more mistakes are made, so we have to do tasks more than once, effectively lowering our achievement levels and creating frustration for those we work with and ourselves.

Now, I’m the first to admit that efficiency and multitasking can be very valuable resources, especially in the workforce.  Obviously, I am at home with my kids, but while one goes to preschool, the other naps, and that is when I work- than and after they go to bed.  I do love time with my husband, too, so getting as much done in as little time possible is essential for us.  However, I am not willing to sign off on lower quality work.  For me, I just need some time and a quiet place to think, free from distractions (don’t put me close to a sink, or I’ll try to get to work there, too).  I’ve found that sometimes I just need to focus on one task at hand and do that one thing well.