Multitasking Quotes

“We often think that combining tasks will save us time, but scientific evidence shows that it has the opposite effect. Even those who claim to be good at multitasking are not very productive. In fact, they are some of the least productive people. Our brains can take million bits of information but can only actually process of few dozen per second. When we say we're multitasking, what we're really doing is switching back and forth between tasks very quickly. Unfortunately, we're not computers adept at parallel processing. We end up spending all our energy alternative between tasks, instead of focusing on doing one of them well. Concentrating on one thing at a time may be the single most important factor in achieving flow.”
― Hector Garcia Puigcerver, Ikigai: Los secretos de Japón para una vida larga y feliz

“I spent most of my life trying to specialize myself. I went to theater school, film school, music school, mime school ... Finally, I was able to gather enough knowledge to build the confidence to create my own work, that goes utterly against the sense of specialization.”
― Nuno Roque

“Varium et mutabile! murmurs the man sagely - "A woman's privilege is to change her mind!" If the nature of his industry were such that he had to change his mind from cooking to cleaning, from cleaning to sewing, from sewing to nursing, from nursing to teaching, and so, backward, forward, crosswise and over again, from morning to night - he too would become adept in the lightning-change act. The man adopts one business and follows it. He develops special ability, on long lines, in connection with wide interests - and so grows broader and steadier. The distinction is there, but it is not a distinction of sex. This is why the man forgets to mail the letter. He is used to one consecutive train of thought and action. She, used to a varying zigzag horde of little things, can readily accommodate a few more.”
― Charlotte Perkins Gilman

“It seems to me that one of the great luxuries of life at this point is to do one thing at a time. One thing to which you give yourself wholeheartedly, uni-tasking.”
― Michael Pollan, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

“A seemingly simple task like taking a bath or wearing a condom feels like multitasking to someone who suffers from hemiplegia or has only one hand.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“The more I took note of how my body and brain clicked along through the day, the more I realized that I spent a considerable amount of time banging around with a brain full of chatter; a rush of things to do, bills to pay, telephone calls, text messages, e-mails, worrying about my job or my looks, my boobs or my ass; I rushed from thing to thing, multitasking, triple-timing, hoping to cover all the bases, avoiding anything that might disrupt the schedule or routine. At times, I was so caught up in the tempo and pattern, the predictable tap, tap, tap of each day, that there was no time to notice the neighbors had moved out, the wind was sneaking in from the north, the sun was shifting on its axis, and tonight the moon would look like the milky residue floating inside an enormous cereal bowl. I wondered when I had become a person who noticed so little.”
― Dee Williams

“We are the generation capable of doing many things at once, without enjoying any of them..”
― Dinesh Kumar Biran

“Multi-tasking is great in the kitchen when you are trying to time the chicken to be ready at the same time as the potatoes. But do not assume it is a great way to manage a workday.”
― Joanne Tombrakos, It Takes An Egg Timer, A Guide to Creating the Time for Your Life

“How often have you heard people brag about what great multi-taskers they are? Perhaps you’ve made the same boast yourself. You might even have heard that members of “Gen Y” are natural multi-taskers, having lived their whole lives constantly switching their attention from texting to IMing to Facebooking to watching TV— all supposedly without missing a beat. We even see training classes designed to teach managers how best to multi-task their Gen Y staff, the implication being that asking someone to focus on a single task through to completion has now become ridiculously old-fashioned for, if not downright heretical to, the new world order.

Don’t believe it.”
― Michael Hannan

“Prereading is a game changer. It changed my life...Everyone is smarter when they have seen the material before. You will be too.”
― Peter Rogers MD

“I'm like a circus standing on two legs.”
― Nuno Roque

“The night before a biochemistry class, I read the last year's lecture notes. I look at the pictures in the book. Now, I've got the general concept. Sure...There's a couple of details to fill in and a a few things to memorize. But that's no big deal. I've got the big picture, and that's all I need.

Bring it on professor, I'm ready.

That's right.

The next day, I'm a goalie sitting in the front row.

"Nothin gets past me."

My ability to comprehend a biochemistry lecture just went from 30% to 95%.

I went on to score 780 out of a possible 800 on the medical school boards exam in biochemistry. Given that the 99th percentile began around 690, this was one of the highest scores in the USA, perhaps the highest.”
― Peter Rogers MD

“The scarcity of time is the reason we have to concentrate on one thing at a time.”
― Matt Perman, What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

“While leisure and recreation are necessary to get closer to life, you need alertness and effort to face it.”
― Tapan Ghosh

“Concentration in the job keeps quality in the work.”
― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words

“Multitasking is overrated - I'd rather do one thing well than many things badly. Quality supersedes quantity every time.”
― Stewart Stafford

“...with a look on her face that said she had a lot of plates to juggle, but as long as you were prepared to be spun, everything would be fine.”
― Paul Cornell, The Lights Go Out in Lychford

“A person who is interrupted while performing a task takes 50% more time to complete it and make 50% more errors.”
― David Brooks

“The table next to the sink is for flashcards. I saw a Monty Python skit called, "every sperm is sacred," and it gave me the idea that, "every piss is sacred." Meaning, WHY NOT LOOK AT FLASHCARDS WHILE VOIDING?”
― Peter Rogers MD

“Mozart liked to write letters while on the loo. He wrote, "I think it only fitting to write while shitting." This gave me the idea of, "I think it only fitting to read while ..." Who says men can't multitask?”
― Peter Rogers MD

“(About the magic bathroom).
If knowledge is money, and money is gold, then this is modern day Alchemy.
Feces (wasted time) is turned into gold (knowledge).”
― Peter Rogers MD

“Prereading is a game changer. It changed my life. Everyone is smarter when they have seen the material before. You will be too”
― Peter Rogers, Straight A at Stanford and on to Harvard

“The night before a biochemistry class, I read the lecture notes from last year. I look at the pictures in the book. I read some of the book.

Now, I've got the general concept. Sure...There's a couple of details to fill in and a few things to memorize. but that's no big deal. I've got the big picture and that's all I need.

Bring it on professor. I'm ready.


That's right.

The next day, I'm a goalie sitting in the front row.

Nothin gets past me...

My ability to comprehend a biochemistry lecture just went up from 30% to 95%.

I went on to score 780 out of a possible 800 on the medical school biochemistry boards exam (USMLE 1).

Given that the 99th percentile began around 690, this was one of the highest scores in the USA, perhaps the highest.”
― Peter Rogers, Straight A at Stanford and on to Harvard

“The mystery of the MAGIC BATHROOM will be revealed unto thee...

The table next to the sink is for flashcards. I say a Monty Python skit called, "Every sperm is sacred," and it gave me the idea that, "every piss is sacred." Meaning, why not look at flashcards while voiding.

Mozart liked to write letters while on the loo. He wrote, "I think it only fitting to write while shitting." This gave me the idea to read while....

If knowledge is money, and money is gold, then this is modern day alchemy.

Feces (wasted time) is turned into gold (knowledge)...

People often ask, "where do you find so much time to read? How can you remember so well?"

Well, there's your answer, the Magic Bathroom.”
― Peter Rogers, Straight A at Stanford and on to Harvard

“jack of all trades
master of none
but once you learn
how to juggle
you rarely drop the ball”
― Kristin Michelle Elizabeth, This Will Set Me Free

“Doing one thing at a time is a recipe for a life that won't keep up with your dreams.”
― Monroe Mann, Time Zen: aka Winners Do It Now – The shortest and most effective time management and success system ever created.

“She is frying onions and working on two dishes at once, chopping eggplant and stirring the leben- a delicate mellow yogurt sauce that needs constant stirring or it will break-”
― Diana Abu-Jaber, Crescent

“Sirine finishes deskewering six plates of lamb shish kabobs and three plates of chicken, drizzling oil over ground beef and hummus, over smoky puréed eggplant, over a bowl of olives, and splashing four tabbouleh salads with lemon.”
― Diana Abu-Jaber, Crescent

“The truth of the matter is that most major success in this right-brain, internet-connected, uber-competitive world no longer comes from doing things consecutively. If you do things consecutively, you lose. This is a fact. Slow and steady may have won the race in the past, but today, in order to even get into the race, you have to be the one organizing it too, and doing everything all at the same time.”
― Monroe Mann

“When you do too many things, without finishing any of them. You look funny”
― Harjeet Khanduja, Nothing About Business