Do you believe in multitasking?

As a writer, I like to think deep and long about things that I want to write about, and although the recent past has been much too noisy for me to really focus on my writing thoughts, I know well how the process works best for me. Sometimes I get the impression that many people need absolute quiet and stillness to think, as though dimming down the senses will open up some of the brain’s working memory in order to focus on their thoughts.

Unfortunately, I have no clue how they can function that way.

I think best while doing other things, personally – in other words, I multitask thinking with other activities. The only stipulation is that I can’t be listening actively, or there’s no room for me to generate independent thoughts. So on a Saturday you might find me obsessively washing dishes in absolute silence. I’ve often thought that this seems crazy; I mean, some people can’t live without noise of some kind!

But oh, it is noisy. The closest ocean, as this blog’s tagline clearly states, is in my head; some days it’s glassy, and some days it’s rolling. At times it’s even stormy! But no matter how loud the waves of sound in my imagination, they only come while I’m in the zone, and so I work to get in the zone. I can also do it while mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, running, or even doing mundane repetitive bits of my real job.

People say multitasking doesn’t really happen, but I say if not then there may be an exception, because a lot of my content is generated in tandem with busy work performed in relative silence. Then the waves keep on rolling, boy; and as long as I’m ready to write down my best stuff I have proof of that exception.