Multitasking – Understanding the Concept and How to Best Use It

Are you a multitasker? Or do you know someone who is? Does multitasking mean being efficient?

Let me share my story and my learning……….

How I thought that I was a multi-tasker…

When I was in my teenage years, I always thought that I was a multi-tasker. I would always tell my brother that I could do more work than him when helping our Mom with the household chores.

I would be listening to music and making my bed, and by no time, I would be sweeping the floor and, at the same time, filling up the bucket. As for my brother, he would still be making his bed.

I would like to state this example as we could relate it to our daily life. As I grew up and followed the same multi-tasking method, it seemed like I could get things done easily. But the outcome would not be up to the mark compared to my brother. My brother's bed would look very neat and tidy. As for my bed, it would look clean but not properly tidy.

I never realized that I was not good at multitasking. As I grew up, I kept practicing the same multitasking method. That was what I thought I was doing...🙄 I could get things done, but the quality was never great.

Then I got introduced to the word time-sharing...

From my teenage years until my early twenties, I kept on practicing the same old method of Multitasking. It was when I started working in Chillibreeze I realized that we must master the art of multi-tasking to be able to jump from one task to the other and then attend one meeting after another. Here was when I misinterpreted the whole meaning of the word "multitasking."

During my first two months in Chillibreeze, I was working on completing all my set tasks. It was overwhelming to adjust with the time, and I am pretty slow at what I do. When my colleague Wanlambok Nongbet saw my planner, he shared his insights, and it was the first time that I came across the word Time-sharing. Wanlambok shared that time sharing is about managing time and focusing on work, meetings, and learning. It is similar to multitasking but not entirely, as it can reduce productivity. Wanlambok likes to call it Time-sharing as it is about the efficient focus that you put on each task simultaneously.

I finally got the proper understanding of multitasking

Here at Chillibreeze, I got the proper understanding of multi-tasking or time-sharing. It is not about how many kinds of tasks you can do at one go. It was all about setting a time to focus on a certain task and then switching focus on to another task and also focusing on the meetings with efficiency.  It is all about the focus.

It is how you manage the time you have. It is all in your hands. Yes, we all have a 24/7 timespan. It all depends on how we divide that into focus time for specific tasks.

One of my colleagues, Mason Lyngdoh, would say “time is in our hands” and it all depends on us how we make use of it. At times I would say I have a lot to do and I do not have time. I understood that at the end of the day what matters is the outcome or what you have learned from it. It is the focus that you put on each task and how you share time to complete the set tasks.

How Chillibreeze follows the art of multi-tasking…

Most of you may wonder why we work for more than 8 hours a day. Well, the two main aspects are 1) We serve our global customers and 2) We invest most of our time in learning and growing ourselves.

Well, then, how do we multitask?

It has a lot to do with multi-tasking or time-sharing. We make plans for the day so that it enables us to be there for our customers, our meetings, helping and supporting our co-workers, and our learning.

We also have the time to take care of our personal life. That reminds me of one situation — On that day, I had my plans all set for the day and shifted my focus from one task to the other. It was going on smoothly until I had an urgent call from home saying they would pick me up from work at 7 p.m. because there was an urgent matter at home. The time I came to know about that was at 6:43 p.m.! I was in a rush, in which I was left with 4 more tasks on my list!

I told my Head, Nafissa Kharkamni, that I would be leaving soon and would continue to work from home. The response that she gave made me think for a while, and was amazed by her answer. She said, “We believe in freedom with responsibility.” Then I was able to decide to pack up and go home.

As soon as I reached home, I continued with two of my remaining tasks until I finished them. Then I had time for my family’s urgent matter, and after that, I focused on the remaining two tasks. I was not willing to leave the remaining tasks for the next day. It was not just a task - it felt as though my interest in it wanted me to see it complete.

A time for everything…

Coming to an understanding of time and the meaning of multi-tasking made me gain a different kind of insight towards it. Multi-tasking is not about how many tasks you can do in one go. It is all about how we can share our time and focus on the things which are set upon us. We may not have the time to do all that we want to do in our life, but the choice that we make and the art of dividing our focus with efficiency will make all the difference.

Are you a multitasker person? Do you see yourself as a fit for Chillibreeze?
If so, do share by leaving a comment below.

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