Because we have to-do lists as long as ten-verse hymns, we think multitasking will help us accomplish more. But it turns out that when we try to do more than one thing at once, our productivity can go down by 40%.
One of my most awesome feats of multi-tasking happened when my son was still a baby. On a quiet Sunday morning, I was getting myself and my kids dressed and ready to go to the late service at church. My pastor-husband interrupted our preparations with a phone call telling me that the organist did not show up for the early service. Could I come and pinch-hit for her?
I finished changing my son’s diaper and pulled some cute little red shorts up over it. I picked him up and grabbed my daughter's two-year-old hand to make the 40-yard dash from the parsonage to the church. I pointed Anna toward a chair and plunked my son into a high chair, rolling it over to the piano in the back of the church. I sight-read the hymns as best as I could, flinging Cheerios onto the high chair tray in between verses. Somehow, we made it through the service.
Moms often perform super-hero feats of multitasking. But even if we don’t have toddlers or young children, many of us try to do more than one thing at once. Maybe we send an email while watching TV. Or write a report during a Zoom meeting. Or check work texts while our children ramble on about their video games.
The Downside of Multitasking
Because we have to-do lists as long as ten-verse hymns, we think multitasking will help us accomplish more. But it turns out that when we try to do more than one thing at once, our productivity can go down by 40%. Our brains don’t actually multitask—instead, they shift from one task to another. This constant shifting of focus interrupts our thinking and prevents us from doing our best work.
Besides a loss in productivity, studies have found other detriments to multitasking. Not surprisingly, this practice can lead to greater distractibility. In other words, we may lose our ability to focus. Scientists have seen a reduction of grey matter in the brains of people who frequently try to do more than one thing at once. Multitasking can lead to memory problems and increase your stress. It can also harm your relationships when you try to divide your focus between the important people in your life and your attention-grabbing screens.
Multitasking can even lead to life-threatening accidents when we try to text and drive or walk through busy intersections while checking our phones.
Positive Ways to Multitask
Still, sometimes I can’t resist multitasking, and when I combine a task that requires little brain power with one that does—it works. I can listen to a gripping novel while I drive 250 miles to see my mother. I can catch up on helpful podcasts while I clean the bathroom.
Some multitasking can even improve my faith life. I can listen to Christian music while dusting the shelves in the family room or encourage a neighbor while we walk around the block. I can listen to the Bible while putting on my makeup or pray for family members while I fold their laundry.
The Best Way to Multitask
But even with the positive ways to multitask, trying to do too much may make us lose our focus. We may spread ourselves too thin or get involved with so many activities that we lose sight of what's important. Chaos and anxiety start to take root in our souls.
To regain peace in our hearts, we need to get back our focus. Isaiah 26:3 says: "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you."
The way to perfect peace is not doing ten tasks at one time. The key is having our minds stayed on the Lord. My view of this well-known verse changed when I looked up the Hebrew for the word "stayed." The Hebrew word camak means "to lean, lay, rest, lean upon." I had always thought of stayed as an active striving to set my mind on God. But the Hebrew tells me it is much more passive. A mind stayed on the Lord rests on Him; it leans up against Him.
When I'm leaning on God for support, I experience His peace. But when I'm leaning on something other than God—money, other people, my own ability to multitask—anxiety creeps in.
So how can we lean on God and keep our minds focused on Him? Here are some practical suggestions:
1. Post Isaiah 26:3 in prominent places. Write this verse on some sticky notes and post them where you’ll see them often. As you do dishes, brush your teeth, or work at your computer, these reminders will help you lean on God when your thoughts wander off to rooms in your mind filled with anxiety and stress.
2. Set an alarm on your phone. Use your distracting device to help you regain focus. Set it to go off several times a day, and when it rings, do a quick mind check. What are you thinking about? Have you lost your peace? Take a moment to remind yourself to fix your mind on Jesus. To lean on Him whatever your task.
3. Begin any task with a prayer. Even before you start that work report, write that article, enter that meeting, ask God to give you the ability to accomplish the work. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you lean on Him and not your own abilities.
4. Meditate on Scripture. Research has shown that multitasking can diminish our ability to focus. But other studies have shown that through practice we can train our brains to worry and wander less. Meditating can change the physical structure of our brains—reducing the size of the amygdala, which is responsible for feelings of fear and stress, and increasing the hippocampus, which helps us learn and remember. The best way to meditate is to think deeply on the truth of God’s Word. Besides Isaiah 26:2, I love to ponder verses like:
Isaiah 30:15: "This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.'”
Ephesian 3:20-21: "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Jeremiah 31:3: "The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.'”
2 Thessalonians 3:16: "Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you."
Isaiah 26:2: "LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us."
In general, multitasking can harm our brains and doesn’t really work.
But even while working hard to check off our to-do lists, we can do one more thing—we can remind ourselves that God is with us. We can rest in His strength. We can ask for His help.
This is the best way to multitask: whatever you are doing, lean against the Lord.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/monkeybusinessimages
Sharla Fritz is a Christian author and speaker who weaves honest and humorous stories into life-changing Bible study. Author of the new book Measured by Grace: How God Defines Success, Sharla writes about God’s transforming grace and unfailing love. Sharla lives in the Chicago suburbs with her amusing pastor husband. Get her FREE ebook 21 Five-Minute Soul-Rest Practices or connect with Sharla at www.sharlafritz.com and Facebook.
