How to Know When Multitasking is a Good Thing

Multitasking is an ability often highlighted on resumes and celebrated in the workplace. We like to think we can juggle all the things, and do it well. We might even welcome more on our plate, label it practice. This is how we level up, enhance our performance, earn our merit. Yet before we can know when multitasking is a good thing, we must identify where it directs our focus.

Beneath every question is at least one down-beneath question. To help me see where multitasking pulls my focus, I find it helpful to ask myself, What am I gaining by multitasking? If getting more done in less time is the win, my focus is on efficiency. If a bullet point on my resume is what I’m after, my focus is on success. If doing excellent work is the standard, I am focused on the task at hand. If not missing an opportunity is what matters, my focus is on not letting myself down.

Our focus always paves a road to something.

Wisdom is to look ahead—to know which direction we are traveling. “Set your gaze on the path before you,” cautions Proverbs 4:25 TPT. This is because moving our gaze sets us in motion in a different direction. We start with our focus because this is the key to knowing whether to stay the path we are on or adjust our direction of travel.

Cultivating a heart of wisdom

I’m grateful that in His goodness, God doesn’t leave us on our own to find wisdom. He gives it to us freely, yet He asks us to want it. To pursue it. To seek Him for it. Let’s read Proverbs 2:2-5 TPT:

So train your heart to listen when I speak
and open your spirit wide to expand your discernment—
then pass it on to your sons and daughters.
Yes, cry out for comprehension and intercede for insight.
For if you keep seeking it like a man would seek for sterling silver,
searching in hidden places for cherished treasure,
then you will discover the fear of the Lord
and find the true knowledge of God.

If you are wrestling today with what you are seeking to gain as you multitask, I encourage you to make some space to hear as God speaks to you.

You might lift the palms of your hands upwards, kneel, or lie face down to choose a physical posture that puts you in the space to surrender and listen. Then ask. Ask Him to bring understanding, perspective, guidance. And wait. Lean gently into the listening. Invite expectancy to swell your heart.

It’s not a silent nor distant God to whom we pray. He promises in James 4:8 TPT that when we “move [our hearts] closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to [us].” When we ask Him for what we know already through Scripture aligns with His heart, we can be confident that our request reaches His ears (per 1 John 5:14-16 TPT). We can ask our loving Father for the wisdom to know which direction our multitasking pulls our hearts and know that He will grant it.

Knowing when it’s time to adjust our focus

Once we know which direction our multitasking is pulling our focus, it will be easier to see if it is a good thing. Here are a few questions you might ask yourself:

Is the thing I am focused on when I am multitasking drawing me closer to God or causing me to pull away from Him?

Is it increasing or diminishing peace, generosity, and joy?

Is it helping or inhibiting me from loving others like Jesus does?

Is it growing or reducing my capacity to notice and be available to those around me?

It’s beautifully brave to juxtapose multitasking and missional living and invite God into your questions and your searching out of wisdom. So I wanted to take a moment here to share that missional living is not about living a perfect life. It’s about openness and humble authenticity. It’s about letting others see and hear about the ways God is growing us to more fully reflect Him. It’s about inviting others to join us on the journey.

If you find it’s necessary to make adjustments to your focus, keep in mind that what you are learning may also be valuable for someone else. When you allow what God is cultivating in you ripple out beyond you into ordinary conversations in your everyday life, you are essentially discipling organically.

Is multitasking actually good for us?

Let’s step back and objectively look at the question of when is multitasking a good thing? Sarah Butterfield lends great insight to this question in her new book, Around the Clock Mom (learn more about the book here). She shares,

Not only does multitasking have a negative impact on our brains, it’s actually not even an efficient way to get things done! Switching between tasks can cost us up to 40% of our productive time. Two mental processes are happening when we switch tasks. First, we shift our goal; we decide we want to do this now, instead of that. Next, we activate the rule; we turn off the rules for that other task and we turn on the rules for this new task.

Her suggestion for making multitasking effective rather than counter-productive is to “pair a task that requires mental focus with a task that is primarily physical and can be done on autopilot.”

I am extremely prone to distraction, and I can attest to the way switching between tasks slows me down. I also know my tendency to become overly task-focused when I multitask, and this is problematic since my goal is to be present and engaged relationally, both with my family and our neighbors. To turn multitasking from something that inhibits missional living to something that actually enhances it, I must approach multitasking with a different focus.

Taking Sarah’s suggestion would look like finishing one task that is predominately physical before moving on to the next one, but pairing it with something that engages my mind. Instead of simultaneously tidying the house and clearing the dishwasher, I could turn on worship music, a podcast, or an audio book while focusing on just one of the tasks. Another more effective way I could multitask would be to pray short prayers as I am doing the things that must be done but require little mental energy. Likewise, and perhaps most importantly, I could use the time to engage relationally with one of my children or a neighbor as doing tasks together provides ample opportunities to gently and organically disciple.

A prayer for multitaskers

When is multitasking a good thing? is a multi-layered question. A less-effective model of multitasking involves making a multitude of decisions very rapidly, and when I rush, I don’t always make the wisest decisions. Taking some time to reflect on what is consuming my attention and ask God for the wisdom to see what to surrender and what to try instead, helps me to choose my focus instead of letting it choose me.

Multitasking is not inherently a good thing any more than it is always a negative thing. Is multitasking a good thing? is perhaps not the right question. Instead, we could ask, where does multitasking pull my focus, and is this the direction I wish to go?

Let’s pray.

Jesus, we give You access to our hearts right now. You see through us already, but today we offer our surrendered and unveiled hearts. May Your gaze bring to light the things that are out of place. Please grant us the wisdom to answer the deep-beneath questions that uncover our truest motivations. Guide our eyes so the path we travel is one that leads us straight to You. In Your precious and holy name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

P.S. Did you know The Uncommon Normal is also a podcast? Tune in on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or Spotify.

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