Multitasking or task switching?

 Multitasking can be helpful if you can have a modicum of discipline. For instance, I can listen, absorb, and process what is being said while doing mindless tasks. Sometimes I even retain more. Because my cognitive function is not filtering with my critical filter activated. 

I can play computer games, listen to podcasts, etc., and function highly at both. But here agon, these tasks are complementary. Not counterproductive. Those tasks are executed using different parts of the brain simultaneously.

Multitasking causes trouble when you are trying so much to do multiple things, but when you are task switching using the same cognitive functions. This task switching problem is because the interference and reset parts of the brain lose optimum abilities when this happens. 

So let's keep multitasking and task switching as separate operations and see how we can navigate the overcrowded workspace in our brain. 

Building like and trust

Building like and trust in relationships is hard enough. Now trying to do it online is even more of a challenge. We can see facial expressions and hear the tone of your voice, but in the virtual meeting, there is some factor missing that I have yet to identify. 

Maybe a smell or full body gestures factor into our sense of trust. I wonder what other factors that are lacking in virtual meetings?

Is the phone call dead?

We moved to KCMO  2 1/2 years ago. So I am discontinuing my old DFW phone number. In doing so, I had to think it through. I was wondering if it was even worth the trouble of keeping. Does anyone use the phone that much? But maybe some text to it, but is it worth keeping even then? 

I have it on my business card and some other printed material that is a cost concern. But in the future, on printed material, I am just going to use a QR code and point it to info that can be edited and updated without a reprint. 

I guess if it comes down to it, we are eschewing the phone call altogether. Maybe it is fear of intrusion. But, on the other hand, it could be we don't want to get tied up in a long conversation. Maybe we lost the art of conversation. Possibly all of the above. 

Free speech or not?

Now that Elon musk bought Twitter, the progressives are going apoplectic.

When did we become afraid of free speech? I think I have a clue. I sold school books for 20 years. I must have attended 400 or so education conventions at various levels. There was a disturbing trend that I noticed during that time. That was the teachers' organizations began demonizing the religious right as censors of the worst kind. So they put out materials and weapons to fight the censorship they feared.

Hollywood was called upon to do the left's bidding, as it has become one of their house-organs. Remember the Field of Dreams scene where they engaged in a fight over Cather in the Rye being banned from the school library. But unfortunately, the media, the leftist lap-dog, also followed their marching orders and ran story after story of right-wing attempts to "burn books." 

In the meantime, when everyone was focused on the "censorship" issue, the education establishment was hell-bent on pushing "political correctness." P.C., which in effect is censorship, but when you paint yourselves as the sole defenders of free speech, you can turn around and do the opposite and deflect criticism. 

The educated, or more to the point, indoctrinated this generation of progressives who want to stifle and silence any speech they disapprove of hearing. Cancel culture was bred in the halls of academia and pushed down our throats by the willing servants they call "teachers" in the Public Schools. 

Gobles would be proud of the way they pulled this off. One book they didn't ban was Saul Alinsky's Handbook for Radicals. Instead, they used this as a how-to manual. 

Hey folks, let's make Orwells 1984 book fiction again! Then, maybe we can even get back to the days when you could actually agree with the 1rst and 14th Amendments to the constitution. 

Time management tips: Rest

I was reading a classic Christian book called " Decision Making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View Paperback – August 11, 2004 by Garry Friesen  (Author), J. Robin Maxson  (Author)."

In one chapter in particular, On "Wisdom for Decision Making," he relates the story of the Hokema Woodcutter. Woodcutter story

The bottom line is that you can get more done by keeping the saw sharp. One of the central habits in the premier book on time management is Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. 

If you think the human body can work at peak efficiency 24/7 365, you are going to crash and burn. Your work will diminish exponentially without time to recharge. 

The Bible principle of Sabbath can still be effective even though it's not a law for today's believers. The rest and reflection is always a good thing to do.  

If you can't find any time to rest call us at Your Office SOS for a consultation and we'll show you how we can give you your time back in an affordable way. 

Pick up the phone

What happened to just picking up the telephone and having a conversation? Instead, I get DM's, PM's, text msgs, chat boxes, emails, pop-up msgs, and more. All are trying to communicate something. Yet, most of the time these communications can be handled much more effectively with just a simple phone call. 

Yes, I am old school. But still, I have bounced back and forth, struggling to communicate what a 2-minute phone conversation would efficiently suffice.

If I am busy, we have a thing called voicemail that works just fine. Yes, it's not the latest gizmo, but it handles the task well. 

Let's not throw out all the communication as mentioned earlier, but make more use of the good old phone call. 

Personal responsibility

Personal responsibility is a throwback to a tip gone long ago. I don't know precisely how long ago we as a society relinquished taking accountability for our own actions and behavior. Instead, it seems we outsourced personal responsibility to some third party. 

Everyone wants to blame every problem, sin, and attitude on sometZoutsdie themselves. Victim culture, granny government, and eroding values in our public schools are a factor for sure. But the most significant fault lies in our churches. American Christianity has mimicked the world when it was forbidden not to by its founder, Jesus Christ. Telling folks it's not you who is the problem and directing them away from taking personal responsibility is not what the Bible says. 

Oh well, if you don't like my blog post, blame my wife.