October 05, 2010

To do two things at once is to do neither. --Publilius Syrus

The Myth of Multi-Tasking:
The rise of the social web has created a flood of information over the past few years. With this influx of life and data streams comes a desire to stay on top of it all. For many people, this means multi-tasking. While it's intuitive to think that handling so many tasks at once makes us more productive and efficient, multi-tasking actually does quite the opposite. According to Stanford Professor Clifford Nass, those who multi-task often seem less able to distinguish relevant from irrelevant, manage their memory, or switch from task to task. So, in the age of Twitter, email, and text messaging, what is one to do? Do one thing at a time, for 15 minutes each, Nass offers. "Then, take a quick scan at all the streams, and decide which one you're going to allocate the next 15 minutes to."

• What computers and T-shirts can teach us about team building.
• How his team got people to actually like Microsoft’s Clippy (I know! Impossible, right?).
• The dangers of multi-tasking and what is the optimal method for modern day workers.

	"Genuine kindness is no ordinary act, but a gift of rare beauty." -- Sylvia Rossetti
	"I was taking a walk one sunny day near my home in Montreal, when I saw a little old lady, about 70 yrs old, laying by the side of the street. I went over and asked if she was okay. I asked her if she needed me to call 911? She said she wasn't ill but that she just felt weak. "All I need is maybe a cracker and water," she said. For some reason, I decided to take her to my apartment, something I would never normally do. I sat with for a long time until she began to feel much better. She told me her life story and afterwards, I asked if I could take her home. She declined but asked if I could drive her to the metro station. I never did give it much thought after that. Then, one day, a letter was pushed under my front door addressed to, "The Lady In The Little Red Car". She thanked me for my kindness and the time that I spent with her. She said she was fine and that she had really enjoyed my company. It really made my day to get that note." -- ladyde