Multitasking has long been praised as a great thing. Well, I say it’s a curse – and let me tell you why.

When you’re multitasking you are not really giving anything your full attention. And if nothing gets full attention, it’s not getting all of you. And are you at your best if you’re not tapping into all of you? I’d say no.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who recognises scenarios such as these:

Responding to emails while on a conference call – missing out on some key information that was shared at some point

Checking text messages while listening to what the children did at school – not really hearing how their day has been

Checking the phone while in meetings – sending the message to the other meeting participants that they are less important (even if not meaning to)

Working on a presentation and getting distracted by the pinging sound of an email in the inbox – going to check the email and losing trail of thought on the presentation, having to spend more time than needed on it

Sure, it’s good to be ABLE to multitask when needed – when a crisis hits, when a deadline looms – but to operate out of a multitasking mode all the time is to waste our capability away.

A more effective mode is to be 100% present in whatever we do, whomever we’re with. It may not work all the time, but any improvement is an improvement.

Try it out, it’s pretty cool – being 100% present.