All my working life one of the few phrases that has always stuck out in my mind like the proverbial sore thumb included the word multitasking. How many times have I heard one person telling another or even myself; “You have to learn to multitask”.
Bah!
Don’t fool yourself. There is no such thing as multitasking. If you’re a human that is. If you’re a home computer or better, then sure, you can multitask. But if you’re flesh and bone—don’t waste your time. The simple fact is that you can do only one thing at a time. Period.
Yes, you can have five separate, open purchase orders on your desk that need doing and four phone lines going at the same time but you can only answer one line at a time and do only one purchase order at a time. If you have a headset you can work on one purchase order and talk to the associated vendor at the same time but you’re still only accomplishing a single task. You cannot work on one purchase order while providing customer assistance to some unrelated person over the phone at the same time. You’ll either screw up the purchase order by entering on line 2 that you need 42 Bob Andersons at $32.50 EA or be charging poor Bob Anderson $1842.95 for asking when he might expect his order to arrive and should he have requested UPS Overnight instead.
The same goes for blogging. Don’t try to multitask. It can’t be done no matter what some may say. The PC your sitting in front of has that capability—not you. So here’s some basic rules to help the new blogger out.
- You can only write one post at a time. Even if you’re an accomplished typist and can turn out 55WPM, you can still only write one post at a time—just much faster. If you can write two or more posts at one time then I want a video and three witnesses.
- You can only research one post at a time. Sure, you can collect links to possible resources for two or more possible blog posts in one session but when it comes down to sorting the links into the proper order and doing the research for a post it’s back to one thing at a time so focus on what you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t try to put together one post while thinking about the possible contents of another (See next item).
- Keep a notepad within reach when working on your post. If what you’re writing triggers an idea for a related post or another subject entirely, jot down the idea in a way that you’ll recognize in case your mind is miles away when you come back to it (important tip there) and then forget about it. Unless you have that rare capability where you’re able to pay strict attention to what your currently trying to accomplish and be able to think about something else entirely while your at it, you’re whole effort will end up as an exercise in frustration.
- If you fizzle out in the middle of writing a post and can’t get seem to get back in the groove then save what you’ve done as a draft and go on to something else. It will be there when you get back. If you’re trying to put out decent content, pushing the “burn out” is a sure way to a badly disjointed post. Ask me how I know this.
- It’s not quantity, it’s quality. One good post full of great content beats ten pieces of bagged air any day. Don’t push your posts or yourself. Set a regular posting schedule and do your best to adhere to it. It can be one a day or one a week. Just as long as your readers can sense a pattern that can be looked forward to.
Whether it’s a personal or a niche style blog, the same can apply to both. Multi-tasking is a myth. One thing at a time is the tried and true rule here. Even the “Pro’s” know it. They just know how to do “one thing at a time” more efficiently than most.
So lay back and just do what you do best and set yourself a schedule that doesn’t stress you out, endanger your sanity and try your reader’s patience.
All the above will eventually end up at ABW as a side subject to the main series. Feel free to tell me I’m full of it. 
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May 22nd, 2007 at 8:31 am
This is very good advice Kirk! I should probably print it out and add it to my Kirk/wordpress folder
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:52 am
Ah yes, the “Kirk/wordpress” folder. Like a large taco of madness, the dreaded “Kirk/wordpress” folder rears it’s ugly head and hisses nasty things in your general direction like, upgrade and modify and do this and do that!
Better put a large book (or three maybe) on that folder and so it will behave itself.
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:43 am
I’m actually glad to hear there is no such thing as multitasking for humans. I just need to figure out how to convince my wife of that fact. Nice post!
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I somewhat agree with your post, but also, I think women can multi-task much better than men. (See Men Are Like Waffles–Women Are Like Spaghetti) It’s just part of how their minds work.
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:50 pm
I have to admit, women in general can “multitask” much better than men (although there are always the exceptions…on both sides). After all, they can run herd on 4 kids or 3 managers or 15 employees all at the same time while we guys tend to break out in sweat and lose weight when we have to attend to more than two things at once.
Still, when it comes to focusing on the task at hand, it’s still comes down to one thing at a time.
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:50 pm
@Percy & Pipe
I have to admit, women in general can “multitask” much better than men (although there are always the exceptions…on both sides). After all, they can run herd on 4 kids or 3 managers or 15 employees all at the same time while we guys tend to break out in sweat and lose weight when we have to attend to more than two things at once.
Still, when it comes to focusing on the task at hand, it’s still comes down to one thing at a time.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I have been learning this lately. It comes as a great relief, since I have always been a terrible multi-tasker. All our lives we get told to mutli-task, yet I never noticed how much productivity it zaps. For example, things take twice as long when I have the TV on.
I will also say that my wife has always been a better multi tasker than me. But we will leave the men vs. women debate for later.
July 17th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Hi Happy Rock,
And welcome to my corner of the world. Glad you’re realizing this. You can always find ways to work more efficiently but so far, I’ve never found a way to do more than one thing at a time.
On the men vs women debate…wise choice there.