Spread Too Thin - The Sin Of Multitasking

Spread Too Thin - The Sin of Multitasking

IS YOUR TYPICAL DAY best described as spinning plates, herding cats, and juggling knives, while simultaneously dancing en pointe? Yes, mine too.

Samuel Johnson wrote that “he who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.” Well, clearly Sam wasn’t a working mother! I can get everything done at once! But is getting stuff done the end game? Is ticking thirty-four action items off my to-do list the measure of a day well lived?

I confess. I am a bona fide, professional, ace multitasker. I can solve business dilemmas, arrange for home deliveries, cram for my Bible study, and work through family opportunities, all while running on my treadmill. It’s not that I feel my roles are in conflict or that I’m overextended; on the contrary, I feel that having a multidimensional life is critical to my state of emotional health.

However, I fear that if I’m not careful, my hamster-wheel mind will fail to give the important elements of my life the focused time each deserves. If multitasking keeps me from arriving at the best conclusion or investing my best energy in those people and projects that really matter, then my state of constant hum is no longer a positive but a negative. For this reason, I no longer consider this skill and state of mind an attribute, but a character flaw. Actually, I’m beginning to think that my multitasking might even be sinful!

I’m afraid we often confuse being busy with being fulfilled; we have placed more value on doing more than doing with excellence; and we have aligned our days with being productive rather than living with purpose.

Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. (Romans 6:14)

If you’re fulfilled, doing an excellent job, and living a purposeful life—congratulations! You pass the test.

However, if you’re like me—busy and productive, but with a to-do list that never ends . . . well, you might be suffering from multitasking too.