Photo by Angie Davis.
Lauren Denton
On a recent long car trip, I was listening to a podcast in which an author was talking about ways to cut back on distraction and improve your creativity when you’re writing. One of the things she mentioned was making sure you’re only focusing on one screen at a time. When you’re typing on the computer, put your phone in another room. When you’re watching TV, don’t skim Facebook, too. When you’re using an e-reader, turn off text and email notifications. She mentioned how instead of making you more productive by allowing you to take care of more than one task at a time, this multitasking zaps your concentration and decreases your enjoyment of the main thing you’re trying to do.
That got me thinking about how many of us women are nothing if not good multitaskers. Take me, for example. If I go for a walk, I’m generally catching up on phone calls or Voxer. When I sit down to read, I usually grab my phone if I hear a text, just to make sure it’s not an emergency or someone reminding me it’s time to sign up for a slot at the pool. When I cook dinner, I’m also checking news updates, calling out sight words (you know, back when that was a thing), and/or watching a Netflix show on my computer. I tell myself I’m killing two birds with one stone, but what I’m really doing is ensuring that I’m not fully enjoying whatever it is I’m doing. I don’t pay attention to most of what I see around me on my walk because I’m dialed into the conversation I’m having on the phone. I don’t read near as much as I used to because like Pavlov’s dogs, I’ve allowed myself to be trained by all those little pings and buzzes. And I burn dinner.
Everyone keeps talking about the good that can come out of these strange COVID-19 days, this indefinite period of time in which so many things that make our life feel normal have been taken away, from our ability to walk into a library to pick out a few books, to being able to sit on the same pew as other believers in church, to the ways we spend time with friends and family. Maybe the good will be not taking our loved ones for granted. Maybe it’ll be that we’re more thankful for small luxuries like walking into a grocery store without a 6-inch piece of cloth on our face and finding the exact brand of toilet paper we want. Maybe it’ll be that we start giving gifts to our kids’ teachers every month because we’re so very grateful that they’re the ones teaching our kids Common Core math.
All of those are worthy outcomes, and I do hope they’re true for me, but I can’t stop thinking about that “one thing at a time” goal. I want to come out of this whole ordeal a little simpler. If I’m reading, I want to allow myself space to sink into the story. If I’m cooking dinner, I want to focus on what I’m making for myself and my family. If I’m watching TV, I want to fully enjoy the show and not have half my attention stolen by the drama unfolding on “What’s Happening in Homewood.”
My husband is one of those people who can focus on one worthy thing and tune everything else out. As a result, he watches whole seasons of shows he really enjoys, he finishes books much faster than me, and he has no idea what’s happening in Homewood. Yes, there’s the whole waffle vs. spaghetti argument that says men are better at single-tasking than women, but I’m going to try to channel him and spend more time doing one thing at a time. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that our time and resources are precious, and as much as possible given the life stage we’re in, I want to live in away that makes the most of the minutes and days and years I’ve been given.
When I’m not writing about my family and our various shenanigans, I write novels and go to the grocery store. My latest novel, “The Summer House,” is in stores and online now. You can reach me by email at Lauren@LaurenKDenton.com, visit my website LaurenKDenton.com, or find me on Instagram @LaurenKDentonBooks,Twitter @LaurenKDenton, or on Facebook ~LaurenKDentonAuthor.