Can you really Multitask?

Life is busy and this often requires us doing multiple things at once.  Work, family, social, online, etc.  But can you multitask and do you think you're good at it?  Most of us say Yes to both questions.  Of course, we can do multiple things at work, we can talk on the phone while we drive, we can watch TV while doing homework.  What follows is my opinion based on my own experience and observations.  You may disagree but I offer the following for your consideration.

First some definitions on which I base this opinion:

Multitasking is doing multiple things at the same time, like watching TV while you do homework.
Multithreading is doing multiple things but not at the same time; think of it as being in the middle of reading several books (which I am at the moment, 4 specifically).

People are just not able to multitask efficiently.  We can only really concentrate on one thing at a time.  We believe we can multitask because we can multithread which appears to be the same.   Our brains are advanced enough to stitch everything together into one continuous film of life.  Some things physically can't be done at the same time; you can't cut vegetables and play the piano at the same time.  But when you are doing things that can physically be done at the same time, you're still not.  One of two things happen:  1) we either switch back and forth among tasks, usually powering down from one and starting up the next, or 2) we do both tasks at a reduced capacity.  Think of #1 as reading 4 books at once.  You stop one and when you pick up the next, you have re-orient yourself to where you left off, not confuse it with another book and come up to speed on this one again.  Maybe you're really smart and this transition is so brief, it seems like an instant switch to you, but it is still happening, just faster because of your superior intellect ;-)

For #2, let's take driving and talking on the phone (yes, straight to a controversial topic).  We all believe we're good at this because we've done it.  But real tests on the most staunch multitaskers show they cannot.  They sacrifice attention and detail of the discussion or the driving and usually both.  The fact that you're not faced with critical driving instances this trip and you get home safely with the conversation finished leads you to believe that you can do both at 100%.  My daughter has even told me that her driving attention is sharper when she's on the phone.  Just not true.

If faced with a critical driving maneuver, the driver on the phone will always perform worse than the non-phone caller.  In fact studies show that driving while talking on the phone is equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.08%.  Now I have to admit, that sounds ridiculous because no one feels an alcohol buzz while on the phone so we dismiss that instantly.  In reality, it just means you're reaction time and ability to avoid an accident is slowed to someone at the legal alcohol limit.  Tested and proven.  If driving is uneventful, then you usually see no effect.

So this post was not intended to be a monologue about the sins of driving while talking on the phone, but that situation is the one multitasking event that most people have done and I think falsely encourages our belief that we can multitask.  Even if we're talking about multiple projects at work or hobbies at home, the same conclusion applies.  You can Multithread but you can't Multitask or at least not as well as you think you can.

Quick story.   I was behind a Camry on the onramp to the highway two days after Christmas.  The car was going 30 mph which meant it would be difficult of them or me to get up to highway speed and merge at then end of the on ramp.  So I hung back a little to give myself time to speed up.  When I passed the Camry, there was a woman in the right lane, now going 35 mph, on the phone.  When I beeped, she gave me the finger.  Nice.  She's being a hazard, and I'm the bad guy because I called her out.

Financial Survival Guide

The Financial Survival Guide is a term I use for a document that I created for members of my family in the event something happens to me.  I've just seen enough situations where one spouse suddenly dies and the other is left to figure it all out.  Often one person takes the lead on the finances and legal issues in a family.   My wife and I share them, but when one person is suddenly gone, the other can be lost, certainly overwhelmed with grief and then quickly having to figure out details of the family's financial situation.

So years ago, I created a Financial Survival Guide for my wife.  It is a practical and detailed guide to our entire financial situation.  There's nothing in there she doesn't know about, but imagine trying to find contact information, account numbers or waiting for statements to come by mail and figuring out what should be liquidated or kept, all within days or weeks of a funeral.  This isn't for me or you, it's for her.

Here are some highlights that I can suggest.  Your situation is certainly different, probably very different from mine, but you'll get the idea.  In all cases, detail things like account numbers, phone numbers, contact names.

• Life Insurance Payout:  If you have a life insurance policy, detail how to collect that money.
• Lawyers:  Do you have a lawyer who is handling your will or any other family things like trusts?
• Businesses:  Whether you own your own business or are part of a family business, your role, your assets, your ownership needs to be addressed.  And how should the business continue without you?  Dissolve it, appoint someone new?  Lots of guidance needed here.
• Bank accounts:  Checking, Savings, CDs, anything.  List the bank name, account number, names on the accounts, and possibly some advice on what to keep or how to maintain these going forward.  And don't forget passwords to make access to these accounts infinitely easier.
• Mortgage:  Again, financial institution, account #, when it gets paid, as well as the real estate taxes, and homeowners insurance.
• Insurance:  Car, home, life.  When do they get paid, to whom, do you pay them all at once, quarterly, monthly?
• Utilities:  If you handle all the utility bills, detail this if needed.
• Loans:  Do you have any outstanding personal loans that need to be taken care of?
• College:  If you have kids and have some plan of how their college tuition will get paid, share it here.
• Computer and Cell Phone:  What needs to be kept and what needs to be erased.  Again, passwords are essential to access anything. 
• Personal property:  How should your car be handled?  Is it on payments or a lease?  Anything else like a motorcycle, boat?  And of course, how do you want all your "stuff" handled, you know the things that usually don't end up being mentioned in a will, like your golf clubs, tools, etc.
• Recurring expenses:  Do you have any memberships or subscriptions to services that need to be cancelled to avoid extra costs?
• Your house:  Perhaps the well pump needs replacing soon, who did you have in mind?  Or the house needed to be painted.  Does anyone do regular maintenance of your place or are there jobs you did regularly that might be better handled by a contractor now that you're gone, like lawns or your furnace?
• Supplies:  You probably order things on a regular basis for you home like wood or 

From here on, there are probably lots of other smaller but still important details you want to share or at least document.

So now what?

• SECURITY.  Protect this document.  It has all the details and access to your entire life and finances. If you print this document, secure it as best your can.  If it is an electronic file, protect it with a password (one that your spouse knows).  This is perhaps the most important part of this exercise.  You're creating a total access to your life here, don't leave in your sock drawer or on the nightstand.
• ACCESSIBILITY:  Make sure your spouse or family knows where to find this so they can access this information as soon as needed.
• UPDATE:  This information changes over time and hopefully your family won't need it for a very long time.  So that means you need to check and update it once a year, even if it's a quick read through and nothing has changed.

Happy New Year.