Multi-tasking

I'm sitting at a traffic light waiting for it to change. I see a woman coming down the street talking on her cell phone and not paying attention to the road. My next thought is that she is going to have a wreck. As soon as I release this thought, she smacks into another car. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The culprit in this incident is multi-tasking. Had she pulled off the road and taken the phone call or told the person on the phone she would call back, this might not have happened. Multi-tasking had proven dangerous for this woman.
I've come to realize that multi-tasking has become detrimental to me as well. In a time when multi-tasking has become regarded as an attribute, I feel it has become a detriment for me. Job descriptions and requirements boldly state that multi-tasking is a beneficial quality and valued by employers. It has been my experience that the time has come to give value to doing one thing at a time. Giving full attention and care to a task as I'm performing it, garners much better results than my partial attention. It allows me to do my best and get satisfaction from a job well done. So many times I've witnessed co-workers and bosses make mistakes due to the fact that they were multi-tasking and not giving the task at hand their full attention.
As a wife and mother, I've multi-tasked for years and at times even boasted about it. I can cook dinner and clean at the same time. I can pay bills and watch the news. I can answer e-mails and talk on the phone. I can fold laundry and talk to my children at the same time. I can do two things at once, but I no longer choose to do so. The reason for this is that I do not like the results of giving my partial attention to something or someone that requires all of me. I no longer want to talk to someone on the phone and not give them my full attention. When I pays bills, I want to look over the statement and make sure there are not any mistakes that need to be addressed. When my children talk to me, I want to look into their eyes and listen to what they are saying. I want to be present and give my presence.
A few weeks ago I was at the orthodontist's office with my daughter and was given some forms to fill out. While I was filling out the forms, the office administrator was talking to me. I began to notice that I wasn't giving the forms or the office administrator my full attention. I looked at the administrator and said, "can you give me a minute because I can't write and talk at the same time?" She said, "you can't write and talk at the same time?" With a tinge of embarrassment, I said, "no, I can't." The truth is that I could write and talk at the same time, I just chose not to. This was a turning point for me. Since then, I have made the decision not value the act of multi-tasking anymore. I know this is a habit, but it is one that no longer serves me and those around me. Breaking it is my conscious choice and a decision I make each time I'm tempted to multi-task. Doing one thing at a time is a lost art and one which has lost it's value. I find value in doing one thing at a time and this is what works best for me.
I look forward to the day when job descriptions and requirements read, "multi-taskers need not apply." In the meantime, I'll do as John Mayer says, "I'll keep on waiting... waiting on the world to change."