Sometimes I wonder whether I will ever finish any task that I start. It’s all very well to say multi-tasking is inefficient but I ask you, how else would we get things done? Men don’t want to believe in the benefits of multitasking for a very simple reason: they’re not great at it. As the people who raise children, women have no choice; it’s juggle or die.
I consider myself to be a pretty well organized person, not to the point where I have 
alphabetized my spice rack but to the point where I write shopping lists, finish buying Christmas presents well before the end of November and keep a colour-coded diary on Outlook to keep track of my family’s comings and goings. (Have I lost anyone yet? Anyone laughing out loud?)
But I have to admit to feeling a tad overwhelmed at the moment. Life has this knack of throwing one too many curve balls all at the same time and then stands back laughing as you dodge high and low trying to catch them all. Here’s a snapshot and believe me, this does not include all my current commitments.
As I write this blog, the dishwasher is running, there’s a load in the washing machine, my son is completing a mummy-assisted Toy Story 3 jigsaw to my right, the novel I have been editing all year is to my left, I am reading a book which I have to finish by lunch time tomorrow when I shall be interviewing the author, there is a novel from my writer’s group to finish critiquing, short stories to edit, columns to write- I mean need I go on?
The solution seems to be to try multi-tasking with a twist. That is, do one task at a time for a set time and then move on. It means that at the end of the day some of those items on the proverbial To Do list of Life have inched forward in the vain hope that some might eventually be finished. At least deadlines keep you focused.
This, of course, requires the use of the harsh red pen of prioritization to achieve any positive outcomes which is where this dodging curve ball concept kicks in. Because, as soon as you have to start dodging curve balls and finish one single solitary thing on your To Do List of Life, things start turning to cow dung.
How I dream of a day when I can live the writer’s life. The one where I have a studio with a leafy vista, the solitude in which to dream up stories and six uninterrupted hours per day in which to realize my creations. Apparently there are writers in real life who do this but I am not sure who they are or whether the one who claim such an idyllic existence are just making it up to make the rest of feel like losers.
Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t swap the life I have for this other life. Without children, marriage and curve balls, where would I get my ideas from? Watching my son complete his puzzle all by himself is its own reward. And in the final reckoning, it won’t be the To Do List of Life I’ll be judged by, it will be the love of my family and friends.
And hopefully I’ll have finished the bloody novel by then!
meredithjaffe 