Felice Shapiro
I’ve decided I’m quitting multitasking. I need a new plan. This week was out of control and something’s gotta give.
Ok, I know I’ve said this before.
In the midst of my chaos last week, I decided there was only one way to make my way through it…
LOL and then pivot…that’s what!
Yes…Laugh out loud and devise a new strategy later. That’s what I did. I just started laughing at my gaffs this past week and it relaxed me because last week I simply couldn’t slow down, or so I thought.
“Ha Ha, So What….”, I laughed when I backed up over my golf clubs. Yup I did that! I put my golf clubs behind my car so I wouldn’t forget to take them with me. Good plan? Not! I had a quick lunch with girlfriends and realized I was running late so I sprinted over to the car and backed out of the space. Crunch – Golf bag has tire marks but apparently those irons are tough.
“Ha, Ha…So What…”
And then the not so funny screw up. Ninety minutes to drive one mile, that’s what. Could have been avoided except….
I always check Waze before I jump on the highway to check for trouble. However, my friend Peggy and I had finally connected that day and I just didn’t want to jump off the call. As I approached the highway, I saw the traffic backed up and it was too late; I was at the start of my four hour-drive from Larchmont to Boston. Good thing I have some great podcasts.
And then….really LOL funny. Total Screw Up At Book Club. I read the wrong book! Yup. My friend started describing what she loved about the book and I wondered what the hell she was talking about.
“Hey, I think I read the wrong book.” I’d stayed up til 2 am reading so I would be ready for a lively discussion. LOL?
And then there was the phone debacle…
“Hurry up,” my friend said, “We’re late for dinner.”
“One sec, quick pit stop and then I’ll be ready,” I replied.
I checked to make sure I had my sweater, fixed my eyeliner, slipped my I-phone into my back jean pocket and headed to the bathroom.
“I’ll be down in one sec…” I told my waiting friend.
I stood the way ladies do, my back to the toilet and pulled my jeans down and sat on the seat.
“Shit!”
I looked at my phone floating in the clean toilet, snapped it out of the water – wiped it off and exhaled when I saw the screen was still bright.
“Crisis averted….five-second rule….all clear”
Later that night as we were singing by the campfire, I checked my phone…it was blank!
“Must have run out of batteries,” I thought.
No such luck. My phone’s plunge had ruined it. The overnight rice immersion that’s supposed to dry it out did nothing to jumpstart it.
I won’t bore you with extensive tales of cellphone woes, What I do want to say is this was the start of a week that was fraught with missteps, mistakes and messes that were not irreversible but perhaps avoidable and at times ultimately laughable.
‘I’m moving too quickly, I’m rushing, I need to be more mindful.’ I told myself in mid-movement…
All week long, I noticed I was doing too much; adjusting from the slower pace of summer to the frenetic fall, tying up lose ends with my BA50 partner, welcoming in my new co-worker Mimi, celebrating my Mom’s 85th, helping her move in to her new assisted living and on and on.
The truth is, I am no longer good at multitasking. I’ve written about this before. This is not new information, but it’s worth a reminder.
I tried each night this week to keep my eyes open and watch my favorite TV show “This Is Us.” I’ve been watching the same first ten minutes all week.
I’ve noticed, and my peer group concurs, it takes us forever to get out the door. We all run back because we’ve forgotten the sweater we’d laid out on the bed, the key to the car or the address to where we are going. It’s inevitable.
When I say goodbye to my dog Jazz before going out, she barely lifts her head when she sees me running back in for fourth time to grab something I’d forgotten. She knows, I’m not coming back to hang with her, I’m just doing my …out the front door — in the front door dance.
The number of blunders and screw ups last week were the result overload, distraction and multi tasking.
I wasted a week chasing down a new phone because I wasn’t focused on the simple task at hand…my bathroom ritual.
So my big epiphany this week past was there’s a cost to not being mindful.
So here’s the deal…today I start my mindfulness practice. I’m going to move slower and try to do one thing at a time. I’m putting myself in multitasking rehab and my medicine is mindful movement. And like a true addict, I’m going to take it one day at a time. And tomorrow, I’m going to do it all over again.
Wish me luck.