As much as we tell ourselves that multitasking is productive, we know at an intuitive level that itโs not. The lie of multitasking is that, if we just do it well enough, weโll be able to get All.The.Things done.
Unitasking forces us to accept that weโre not going to get to all the things we want or feel we need to. Thatโs a hard truth that weโd rather negotiate with than accept.
But even after we accept that truth, thereโs another hard part about unitasking: holding boundaries.
This is coming up for me because, as I type, Iโm on a family trip. After spending too much of too many days working during family trips in the past, this time, I decided that Iโm not doing that anymore. I neither work well nor am the son/brother/husband I want to be. Nobody and nothing gets whatโs needed, including myself.
Because of the nature of my work, being present with family includes not having devices on me. Yes, not having devices on me is about not mindlessly grazing and checking email and Slack, but even more important is it keeps me from starting to write or getting wrapped up in an idea so much that Iโm half-hearing conversations and half-present โ which means not being present.
To my left, Angela, my sister-in-law, and my mother-law are getting pedicures. They are oblivious to my presence because theyโre in pedicure bliss getting their toenails painted, something which I opted out of, which gave me this little bit of focused space and time to write todayโs Pulse.
Donโt get it twisted, though: I did get a pedicure.ย
Theyโll be done soon, which means Iโll be done here soon, too.
In the table-setting portion of our last Level Up Retreat, we informed our participants that we would not have devices on us during the week and we had built the design of the retreat so that none of us would need devices. We let them know that, if it supported them, we would hold their devices for the week so they wouldnโt be distracted. Our rationale was that we wanted to be 100% present for our participants and wanted them to be 100% present for themselves and each other.
No one took us up on the offer, but most of the time, no one had devices on them. The exception was in the evenings because #IslandSunsets.
Many participants commented that theyโd never really had a restorative trip before. They thought they had, but then they experienced real presence. One participant realized that just the thought of emails โbeing thereโ on her phone made her anxious; she removed her mail client from her phone and hasnโt added it back.
Iโm sharing these stories because I hope theyโll get you to think about how you can be more present during the upcoming trips, vacations, and moments ahead of you.
What might you experience if you were 100% there? How would it feel to not half-do and half-be in the moments youโve set aside to be with the people you love?
Yes, itโs hard to assert and hold that boundary. But itโs worth it.
My timeโs up. I hope it helps you enjoy yours more.
The post Boundaries & Presence: The Myth of Multitasking and What It Costs Us appeared first on Productive Flourishing.
Book Launch:ย Everyday Border Struggles: Segregation and Solidarity in the UK and CalaisONLINE EVENT โ 8thย February 2023, 17:00-18:30
Thom Tyerman will discuss his bookย Everyday Border Struggles: Segregation and Solidarity in the UK and Calaisย with Ana Aliverti (University of Warwick) and Joe Turner (University of York)
In an age of mobility, borders appear to be everywhere. Encountered more and more in our everyday lives, borders locally enact global divisions and inequalities of power, wealth, and identity. From the Calais โjungleโ to the UKโs โhostile environmentโ policy, this book examines how borders in the UK and Calais operate through everyday practices of segregation. At the same time, it reveals how border segregation is challenged and resisted by everyday practices of โmigrant solidarityโ among people on the move and no borders activists. In doing so, it explores how everyday borders are key sites of struggles over and against postcolonial and racialised global inequalities. This talk will be of interest to scholars and students working on migration, borders, and citizenship as well as practitioners and organisers in migrant rights, asylum advocacy, and anti-detention or deportation campaigns.ย ย
Join the meeting using this link on the day of the discussion
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