The Most Important Skill to Develop, ever
A 10x multiplier on the value and quality of your time and work.
After graduating from high school, I flew to New Zealand to work and travel. For a few months, I worked on a small farm in exchange for food and accommodation. I was feeding animals, harvesting fruits, vegetables, and relentlessly fighting weeds.
This type of work was mainly physical, as shoveling manure didn’t require much thinking or creativity. I was able to listen to audiobooks and podcasts while working, which made this experience even more enjoyable.
You could argue that this is a prime example of multitasking. I was doing physical work, while simultaneously taking in information and processing it. The important detail, however, is that I wasn’t mentally multitasking.
My body was running on autopilot, while my mind was focused on what I was listening to. There were very few actions that required me to actively think about what I was doing. To me, that doesn’t count as real multitasking, as my focus was entirely dedicated to listening.
It’s a common belief, however, to think of multitasking as something that is not only possible but desirable. Doing two tasks at once means twice the amount of work done in the same amount of time, right?
