Multi-tasking throughout the years~!

multi tasking

I found a pair of socks in my freezer a few weeks back and it made me wonder how they ended up there. I am the Queen of our laundry room -meaning my husband doesn’t touch our laundry- and these were a pair of my socks. So no matter how hard I tried to blame somebody else (anybody else) I knew I had put them there. 

I open our freezer every day, so that left me with a specific time frame. I went through the last 24 hours in my mind and I pretty much got an idea what had happened.

It was a severe case of multi-tasking that had gone wrong.

I never really believed that there was such a person -one who could multi-task with equal efficiency- but regardless of what I thought, I was born and raised to multi-task anyway, because I am female.

That’s what we do. We take care of kids with one hand and cook dinner with the other, at least that’s the general idea behind it.

Now back to my multi-tasking dilemma. Let me tell you what had happened and how differently I would have dealt with it throughout the years:

In my 20’s:

I was in my workshop and answered the phone. It was one of my favorite customers and I knew we would talk for a while. I had just been on my way over to the house -it was lunchtime- and I wanted to make me a sandwich; although I needed to get the meat for dinner out of the freezer. The weather had changed, I felt cold and decided to get me a pair of socks out of the laundry room.

I would have done all of it and would have been back on my way to my workshop in no time, with a sandwich in my hands and the socks would have been on my feet. I would have done all of that, while still talking to my customer.

In my 30’s:

That’s when I felt like superwoman. I would have done all of the above and would have started to cook dinner with one hand, while making the sandwich with the other…all while holding the phone squeezed in between my face and my shoulder.

In my 40’s:

No signs of aging back then either, but I would have been smarter. That was the time in my life, when I started to make lists. I became a list-hawk (still am, when I recall where I put them).

I would have written down all the things I wanted to do and I would have done everything exactly as planed:

  1. Talk  to customer on the phone.
  2. Walk over to house.
  3. Get meat out of the freezer.
  4. Make a sandwich.
  5. Get a pair of socks.
  6. Walk back to the workshop with socks on your feet and sandwich in your hand.

I would have checked everything on my list with great satisfaction. (What can I say…little things make me happy).

In my 50’s:

Well, things are different now and that’s what really happened:

I answered the phone and walked over to the house, while giggling with my customer. I got a pair of socks out of the laundry room and went into the kitchen. I opened the freezer, got the meat out and put the socks in, because I needed my hands free for something that I can’t remember. Not sure if I ever made the sandwich.

I walked back to my workshop with cold feet while still talking to my customer.

I can’t wait to see what happens in my 60’s. 🙂

multitasking-overrated

 

35 thoughts on “Multi-tasking throughout the years~!

  1. I don’t dare laugh. So far I’ve managed to catch myself while in the process of committing an absentminded act … like putting the milk in the microwave.
    … but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before my brain farts it won’t be discreet :/

    Liked by 1 person

  2. So funny- yes I agree multi tasking is overrated! I always feel if I am on the phone I need to be doing something else- lately I have taken to making a cup of coffee and sitting and drinking it while talking- that’s it!

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  3. I made the weakest coffee , ever…the other day! I found out that if you do not put coffee grinds in the filter….your coffee will taste like hot water!! I’m sure I was multi-tasking when this occurs…at least I sure hope I was! 😁

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  4. One day ,coming home after shopping , evidently I didn’t put my keys in the right place if after an hour or so ,wanting to serve Rene’ some beer , I discovered them in the fridge!
    (I wonder if things are somehow attracted by fridges……!)

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  5. I can hardly do a single task and even then need a lot of time planning it. With socks I still manage to change them but only one sock at a time. That’s were the expression comes form “like a lost sock in the laundrymat of life”

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