June 3, 2025 • 26 mins
Multitasking may seem like the best way get to things done, but does it really help? —
In this episode, Renee explains how multitasking can be a secret to productivity, and sometimes it’s an energy drain that leaves us scattered and exhausted.
Renee also explores the pros and cons of multitasking with ADHD and shares practical tips to make it work for you.
Get Renee'sweekly insights about women with ADHD and how to work with your brain, not against it!
https://www.renee-allen.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:29):
Hello, welcome to inspiring women with ADHD I am Renee
Allen, the host of this podcast and I'm excited to be here today.
Happy almost summer. We're coming to the end of May,
if you're listening, currently, if not, happy wherever you
are, time of year. But I always get excited about changes
(00:49):
and then I always miss the old. I don't know if you do that
or not, but I am just probably. I can't
commit to it. But I'm probably just gonna have one episode this
week because I'm going out of town. I don't know if I'll get
a chance to record another one before I leave.
So I'm just getting that out there in case there's not two.
But you know, with ADHD you can be impulsive, you can find
other ways to do things. You cannot plan ahead and just try to
(01:12):
do something last minute and that may happen.
So we'll see. But thank you for being here.
So today I am going to talk to you about multitasking.
And I love to multitask. I don't
know if you do, and I've always thought I was really good
at it. I've been reading that it's not the
(01:33):
best strategy, but when I read about that,
I think
maybe, maybe it depends on what you're doing because some things
you kind of have to multitask with, like laundry.
You can't just do laundry all day long and nothing else
because there's a time frame with it.
(01:53):
You put the laundry in the washer and.
And then you wait for it to be done and then you
switch it. Unless you're going to a laundromat and you can do
four or five loads or whatever it is at a time, or you have
multiple washing machines and dryers.
I don't. It is gonna be something that you're doing in
the middle of doing something else. You have to take a break
from what you're doing. You can do another task, split that task,
(02:16):
split your focus, and maybe come back to what you
were doing before. If you have a problem coming back and
knowing what you were doing before, you may need to create
a personal assistant. I had an episode, I don't know how
long ago, a couple months ago, about being your own personal
assistant, that if you had somebody there, that was your reminder,
(02:38):
like, I'm going to forget that I was working on, I
was doing, paying my bills or something and I came back
from doing laundry, forgot about it, and then was late on the
homeowner's insurance. And now our house Isn't covered.
Drawn from real experiences. People here.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, I liked my, my homeowner's insurance company
(02:59):
when I lived in California because I just paid it once and never
had to think about it again. From the time I signed up to
the time we moved. 11 years. Never thought about it here.
Not the same. Not the same. We have our names
on two houses, our house and our son's house.
And it's a mess. It's a mess every year.
(03:21):
It's a nightmare for someone with adhd.
And my son's house has gone uninsured twice.
And it's scary to think, oh, until this is handled, you know,
what if something happens? But you know, so far we're okay.
A lot of scrambling in between. But multitasking can lead to
mishaps and problems and things like that.
(03:42):
So I just want to give some pros and cons is I think
there are some pros. Even though we're told not to
multitask because there are some pitfalls, There are definitely
some cons. But I've tended to think
that if I'm multitasking, I can get more done.
It increases my productivity. Researchers say that it
(04:05):
actually decreases our productivity because it makes it so
the quality of work that we're doing isn't as good if we're switching
between tasks. If you're cooking dinner and you're also working
on something on your computer and you're going back and forth,
there's a good chance for me, I know I forget ingredients.
(04:26):
I think I put something in or forgot, especially when I bake
it, because that's the thing I love to do the most, is baking.
In the past five plus years of my ADHD
symptoms increasing in different ways, I've made a lot of
breads, cookies, cakes, whatever for getting something.
(04:47):
One time I made gluten free chocolate chip cookies that
I had made before. It's not a recipe I've done that I've used
enough that I have it known where I can just do
it without thinking about it. But it's a recipe that a friend
of mine brought to a fitness trip I went to
and it's made with almond butter and, and it's gluten free.
(05:09):
You know, it's all these healthy things.
But for sure it's calorie dense. And I, so I ate
so, so, so, so so many. When, when we were on
that trip, I probably, even though we did multiple classes a
day, I probably still brought in more calories, far more
calories than I, than I Burned off. But anyway,
(05:30):
so my. My oldest daughter has celiac and so
does her son. So I decided to make these cookies
to celebrate an occasion with her husband and thought, oh, yeah,
that recipe with almond flour. Well, my memory was almond
flour, not almond butter. Anyway, I had a lot of other things
going on at the same time, so I didn't really look at the recipe
(05:53):
very closely. But as I made it, I could see something is
off here because there's not enough wetness to the cookie dough.
And sure enough, it called for almond butter, which I did
not have and didn't have time to go to
the store and buy any. And I had put in almond flour
instead of the almond butter. And that was a problem because
(06:14):
I completely changed the recipe. So I had to just
improvise. And I found jars of peanut butter that didn't have
gluten that, you know, that were new, that hadn't been used with
a knife. So I was able to remedy. And they were actually really
good. I could never duplicate it. But a lot of
mistakes, oversights are more likely to happen.
And that's why it's dangerous to be driving and multitasking.
(06:39):
We're told that all the time. You know, with cell phones, that
is multitasking when we're using our cell phone, paying attention
to it while we're driving, because the brain is switching back
and forth, and the brain doesn't always remember what you're
doing. And mistakes can be really dangerous if you're
multitasking. Other times, it's just maybe some cookies that
(06:59):
didn't turn out well or a bill that you forgot to pay, but
it actually isn't more efficient, although it might feel like
it is because you're working on more things at a time.
And so it might feel like, oh, I am more efficient.
It might feel like you're saving time because you're able to
get two things done in a short amount of time.
(07:20):
But
studies say. Studies show that you actually spend
more time because you're having to readjust your brain to
bring it back to what you were doing.
Although I would say with adhd, and this doesn't have
to do with the driving aspect, but with adhd, we tend
(07:43):
to need stimulation. We need something to drive
us to do something. And if we are happier cleaning
a closet, going from cleaning the closet to making the bed to
changing the sheets to washing the sheets to whatever, if that
boosts your. Your energy to where you
(08:04):
can actually work on it, and it's kind of fun, and you're in
a flow and you're doing it. Mistakes like that won't matter as
much if you forget that you were in the middle of making your
bed or whatever it is, that might not matter.
And if you're within the same room, it might be okay,
especially if you tend to hyper focus.
So let's say you are cleaning out your closet.
(08:24):
And as you're cleaning out your closet, you see something that
needs to go into the bathroom. You go into the bathroom and you
see when you open the drawer, I have the kind of
energy right now to clean out my makeup drawer.
And then you spend an hour or two cleaning out your makeup drawer.
Go back to your closet. It's quite a bit undone in your bed,
you were throwing the sheets there to the hallway so you could
take it to the laundry room. You might have created quite
(08:49):
a stir of dust in your path. But if
that makes you happy and you're able to accomplish something
that you wouldn't have anyway. My take on it is there
can be some pros there because you're actually getting things
done instead of having your. What are they called?
(09:10):
Wheel spin. I wanted to say wheel spin, but I
almost said wings. So I was like, wings spill.
Wet. Wet. Yeah, my brain is multitasking from trying
to think of words and convey ideas. But yeah, so there, there
can be little hiccups for sure. It doesn't necessarily save
time, but it might cause you to spend the time
(09:32):
doing something that you wouldn't do otherwise.
I spend or waste a lot of time reading threads
on Reddit or whatever it is just because I can't
get myself to do something that feels daunting or
harder to do. But if I get myself doing that and
(09:54):
I happen to multitask at the same time, I'm not going to
stop myself if I'm still being productive.
Does that make sense? But at the same time, if there's something
that really is important to have it work out.
And even laundry. And how many times raise your hand if you've
done this. I always wonder if I'm the only one raising my hand.
But raise your hand if you've ever done the laundry.
And at the end you realize you never put soap in or you don't
(10:16):
remember if you put soap in or you know, it's mid
morning, you have ADHD medicine that you take every morning and
you don't remember if you took it or not because you don't really
have some kind of schedule where when I do this, I
do this and when I do that, is it not.
Do not Have a system set up where that's part of your morning
(10:37):
and you decided to do a few other things before
you left the house that you don't normally do.
And sometimes that happens. Our lives, you know, aren't predictable,
but sometimes our need to get things done when we
feel like it gets in the way of things that are more important.
(10:57):
And if you're not paying attention to what you're doing because
you're in the middle of doing something else, you could forget.
Did you take your ADHD medicine? Did you take your asthma medicine?
I have chronic asthma. So when my asthma is bad, I really
need the steroid inhaler, puffer thing, Advair or
the generic whatever it is, twice a day.
(11:18):
I'm not supposed to take it two times at night and two times
in the morning. Just once at night, once in the morning if I
don't remember, if I don't have a system set up.
And this has happened many times, and yes, they have a counter
on it, but how are we supposed to really remember what the count
was the day before? I don't know. I'm not meticulous enough to
write that down. But when it's important, I do.
(11:38):
Like when I broke my wrist. And if you're on YouTube, you
can see my scar. If it doesn't gross you out.
I don't know if you can see it or not.
Anyway, that's just to give you hope.
When my scar was all red and I thought, is this
what it's going to look like forever?
I went to a fitness trip like I just talked about.
And a woman showed me her scar and it wasn't red, it was white.
(11:59):
And she said, oh, yeah, they fade over time.
Give you hope if your hand can't move.
My hand moves again. Yay. Anyway, so, yeah, when
that was important, when I was taking heavy, heavy pain medication
along with over the counter pain medication along with
medication or, you know, things to make it.
(12:21):
I don't want to. I don't. I never want to be medical here because.
Not that I'm afraid to share information, but just because I
don't want to gross anybody out, but, you know, things to help
my digestion because of the pain medication and all those things
that were on different hourly schedules, like the prescriptive
opioid, which thank goodness I didn't get
(12:44):
addicted to. I wasn't afraid of it, but so same
with everybody else who didn't get addicted to it, so thank goodness
I didn't. But that was every, what, four hours or
six hours? Or something. The other one was every, you know, one
was four hours, one was six hours, one was three hours, whatever.
And then there was also eat before you take this.
It's like, oh, my goodness. You know, and then.
And then the anti nausea. I had to take the anti nausea pill.
(13:07):
Yeah. So I did write it down. It was
that important with asthma. I haven't gotten to that point.
But you may need to be your own assistant if you need
to do something like that. That's important.
But sure. Life is full of multitasking, right?
We get up, we take a shower, maybe put on makeup,
maybe. I have a friend who stopped putting on makeup years ago.
(13:31):
I don't know how she. She did that, but she did.
And she just said then if somebody ever sees me without my makeup,
they're not like, what? You know, like she can just get up and
look the same every day, but. And she also has adhd
and maybe that was her thing. I don't want to do all those steps
anymore. I. I got to that point years ago with washing my face,
probably in college. I don't want to do all this anymore.
(13:52):
But anyway, so yeah, multitasking, there can be
realities of we have to do this other times.
We can control it. Sometimes you have to focus on, I'm gonna
do a single task right now, and that's it.
And that's where the do later list is.
So helpful. I need to get that on my website.
(14:14):
I keep telling you I'm redoing my website.
And yeah, it's looking better, but it's not function super
functional. But anyway, I made a do later
list that's part of. There's a focus guide and then there's a
focus journal. The focus journal has the two do later
list. And it's so wonderful because when you do
(14:34):
need to just focus on one thing, that's what singular tasking
is or doing one task is. Is I need to only
do this. Like the horses with blinders.
I don't know if people ever see those anymore, but in the olden
days in cartoons, they always had them.
I don't know why, but the blinders on, you know, like, you can't
do anything else, but you have so many thoughts that come into
(14:55):
mind of what else you need to do. So that's where
we think, oh, I'm. I'm a good multitasker because I'm remembering
to do all the things that come up in my mind.
My brain keeps thinking of all those things.
Maybe not when I'm supposed to be doing it, but it keeps coming
up. So when you have a place to
put those to do's, those other things that come up, it
(15:18):
can be as simple as I want to go on a walk with my
friend. You know, it might not be like I can't forget this, but
a new idea or I need to buy more laundry
soap or whatever it is. Write it down, write it down,
write it down, write it down. Also, just getting digital things
away. If you're not using a digital item, a phone, a computer
(15:39):
for the task that you need to do, that's where paper is nice,
you know, your own journal to your do later list, you will need
lots of columns. That's why I made this, this printable version
because I found there's so many, there's so many
categories of things that come up in my mind, I had to organize
them. But anyway, so yeah, that's another way to manage
(15:59):
that. But there's a myth that multitasking isn't taxing
on the brain. You know, like it doesn't really affect our brains
and it can actually cause fatigue in the brain.
We might think it's energizing if we're doing more things at
once. And maybe it's just so we can reach that
finish line, not have to think about that thing to do anymore.
(16:21):
But it actually does really tax our brains, max it out, fatigue
it and increase stress. So if you're constantly saying,
what was I doing, what was I working on, where was I?
And then like for me, with recipes that are from Pinterest
or something, I have to bring up my computer again, find it.
(16:43):
You know, I really do like to print out recipes if I find
them on Pinterest just because
I don't like having to turn my screen on again.
And then I might see an email or I might see something that distracts
me. So anything that is non digital, if you don't need to use
a device, make that happen or put on music
or a podcast. It's kind of funny because when I was researching
(17:06):
multitasking, they were saying they were using examples like
folding clothes and watching tv. To me, that is not multitasking.
Like watching TV is not a task, it's an enjoyment.
It's a way to keep me there. So I fold my clothes.
And same with listening to a podcast.
If I'm getting stuff done, it's not a task.
My brain, yeah, my brain's listening to that.
(17:28):
But that is stimulating me so I can get this other stuff done.
So I know I'm breaking all the rules here.
But I don't count that as one. But, yeah.
And it's kind of funny because another myth is that if
you're younger, you're really good at multitasking.
Like, you're. You're able to do it, and it's okay
to do it. Then it's also hard for kids to do this.
(17:50):
It's also hard to study and also be
responsible for this or that or whatever.
It really is better for the brain at
all ages to focus on one thing at a
time. And just having my four grandchildren here this week, I
had to really recognize that. And especially since one
(18:13):
for sure diagnosed with adhd, another one, my daughter is
probably gonna take her in later on.
She's younger, but I see it with my other
grandson, who has adhd, too, that if I
talk to him about doing more than one thing, like, come on, we're
gonna get in the car. Grab your water bottle.
(18:34):
Get your shoes. I am asking him to multitask.
I'm giving him a list of things to do, putting it all in
his brain. Right then when what I've had to learn to do
is. We're about to leave. I need everyone to put on
your shoes. And then, okay, everyone, grab your water
bottle. You know, one thing at a time.
Because just because kids are younger and their brains are
(18:57):
fresher and newer and their bodies are stronger and they're so
much cuter. My goodness. In their skin, hair, everything's so
beautiful. Oh, yeah. Children are so beautiful.
I love children so much. I was thinking yesterday when I was
in the swimming pool with them, it's just reminding me when I
have. When I'm fully responsible for the kids and not just
(19:18):
grandma. It just brings back the feelings
of being a mom. And I love it so much.
And I feel so grateful that I love it so much, because
I know not everyone enjoys it as much.
It's really. And it can be hard. It definitely takes
a lot of your energy. But what a sweet opportunity to be with
children. I feel like that message needs to get out into the
(19:39):
world more because, I don't know, I hear a lot of
people mention children like. Like it's a
difficult or, you know, our children are, I don't know,
hard to be around. They're not hard for me.
I love them so much. Anyway, okay, multitasking.
So is it essential for you to multitask, to be successful?
(20:03):
No. The world makes us think that even with accomplishments,
you know, this person does this, this, this, this, this, and
you look at someone's accomplishments, and you think the Only
way I could do that is if I was just going full speed all the
time working on all these things. Not true.
Not true. People do things in chunks of their lives,
(20:25):
like what they study, what they work on, and they get
exhausted too, if they try to fit in too much.
Also, whatever you put your time and energy or
even money into, there's a limited supply of everything
even. Well, maybe not for the kajillionaires, but basically there's
(20:47):
a limited supply of everything. Of how much energy we have
before we need to go to sleep or how much money if we
put our time and money in this. If I go outside and work
on gardening for a week, a lot of things are going to fall
apart inside the house. And if I'm okay with
that, or I balance it out, or I regroup or reframe how
(21:09):
my life is set up or my system, I might do that.
But anytime you look at someone else and see all of
the things that they do to be successful and think,
I can't do that, what's wrong with me?
You're probably doing things that they're not doing.
Things that might be a priority to you, might not be something
(21:30):
that even matters to them, or they may have the resources
to pay other people to do some of the things that you do, whether
your reason is because of money or just priorities or you
want control of it. A lot of things I want control of, I don't
want other people to do for me, but I don't have the money given
to do it anyway. But. But anyway. Yeah.
So comparing is hard. Is hard because we tend to see,
(21:56):
I don't know, a lot of things that are listed as great achievements
too, aren't a full scope of human life,
humanity. And if you wrote down all the things you
give your time and energy to and the people you bless in
your lives, you would have a very long list too.
It might not matter as much to somebody else, but it matters
to the people that are in your world.
(22:17):
So just that little bit. But yeah, so I.
I really. Speaking of multitasking, Yeah, I do need
to go so that I'm not multitasking, so I'm not doing this in
something else. But I will try to get one more episode.
I know I said I just have one next week, which is this week now
to you, but I know this also hasn't been as long as
(22:39):
I would like to. To cover and stuff.
So I'll give you some more strategies in the next episode.
But June is just around the corner. I am doing June
Decluttering Month. And I want to provide accountability for
any of you who need it. Even if it's just emailing and telling
me what is overwhelming you, clutter wise in
(23:02):
your life, your home, your work, your car.
And even if it's as simple as I want my
car to be clean on the inside and outside for all of June,
email me and tell me and I'll help keep you accountable.
Because I do a thousand times better.
I feel like I'm 7 years old when I. When I give statements like
(23:23):
that. A thousand times better. But anyway, yeah, I do much better
when I'm working with a friend. And I can be your friend.
I'm your friend. And this is. This is free.
There may be days that I have big accountability groups that
might be a paid program or something, but not now.
Right now it's free. So feel free to write to me
(23:43):
renespiringwomenadhd.com or go to my
website today. My goal will be to get a newsletter signup
form on there. I have so many other things on there that don't
matter right now that I'm going to have a newsletter signup
form where you can just where I can email you and then you'll
be in and you'll get my information.
I'm going to send tips and accountability where we can write
(24:06):
back and forth and stuff for June. So that is it.
Thank you so much. I don't want to go now,
but I really do need to go. So thanks again for listening,
watching and be sure to share my podcast with a friend or
a couple of them. I would really appreciate it if our community
grows. Thanks so much. Bye.
(24:31):
Time to sing melodies and harmonies I'm cut
short the silence of sound has yet been found
but not by me
(25:01):
I butter my toast spread on some grape jelly
I don't need to fuss But I'm a chef and
a good wine My grandma can't hear me
now Breakfast is done Ever getting colder Ever
(25:30):
open windows broken shadow
Frozen dreams are left for tomorrow
For a pause,
(26:02):
rewind I run out of time to sing
melodies and harmonies I'm cut short
the silence of sound has yet been found but
not by me.
Hello, welcome to inspiring women with ADHD I am Renee
Allen, the host of this podcast and I'm excited to be here today.
Happy almost summer. We're coming to the end of May,
if you're listening, currently, if not, happy wherever you
are, time of year. But I always get excited about changes
(00:49):
and then I always miss the old. I don't know if you do that
or not, but I am just probably. I can't
commit to it. But I'm probably just gonna have one episode this
week because I'm going out of town. I don't know if I'll get
a chance to record another one before I leave.
So I'm just getting that out there in case there's not two.
But you know, with ADHD you can be impulsive, you can find
other ways to do things. You cannot plan ahead and just try to
(01:12):
do something last minute and that may happen.
So we'll see. But thank you for being here.
So today I am going to talk to you about multitasking.
And I love to multitask. I don't
know if you do, and I've always thought I was really good
at it. I've been reading that it's not the
(01:33):
best strategy, but when I read about that,
I think
maybe, maybe it depends on what you're doing because some things
you kind of have to multitask with, like laundry.
You can't just do laundry all day long and nothing else
because there's a time frame with it.
(01:53):
You put the laundry in the washer and.
And then you wait for it to be done and then you
switch it. Unless you're going to a laundromat and you can do
four or five loads or whatever it is at a time, or you have
multiple washing machines and dryers.
I don't. It is gonna be something that you're doing in
the middle of doing something else. You have to take a break
from what you're doing. You can do another task, split that task,
(02:16):
split your focus, and maybe come back to what you
were doing before. If you have a problem coming back and
knowing what you were doing before, you may need to create
a personal assistant. I had an episode, I don't know how
long ago, a couple months ago, about being your own personal
assistant, that if you had somebody there, that was your reminder,
(02:38):
like, I'm going to forget that I was working on, I
was doing, paying my bills or something and I came back
from doing laundry, forgot about it, and then was late on the
homeowner's insurance. And now our house Isn't covered.
Drawn from real experiences. People here.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, I liked my, my homeowner's insurance company
(02:59):
when I lived in California because I just paid it once and never
had to think about it again. From the time I signed up to
the time we moved. 11 years. Never thought about it here.
Not the same. Not the same. We have our names
on two houses, our house and our son's house.
And it's a mess. It's a mess every year.
(03:21):
It's a nightmare for someone with adhd.
And my son's house has gone uninsured twice.
And it's scary to think, oh, until this is handled, you know,
what if something happens? But you know, so far we're okay.
A lot of scrambling in between. But multitasking can lead to
mishaps and problems and things like that.
(03:42):
So I just want to give some pros and cons is I think
there are some pros. Even though we're told not to
multitask because there are some pitfalls, There are definitely
some cons. But I've tended to think
that if I'm multitasking, I can get more done.
It increases my productivity. Researchers say that it
(04:05):
actually decreases our productivity because it makes it so
the quality of work that we're doing isn't as good if we're switching
between tasks. If you're cooking dinner and you're also working
on something on your computer and you're going back and forth,
there's a good chance for me, I know I forget ingredients.
(04:26):
I think I put something in or forgot, especially when I bake
it, because that's the thing I love to do the most, is baking.
In the past five plus years of my ADHD
symptoms increasing in different ways, I've made a lot of
breads, cookies, cakes, whatever for getting something.
(04:47):
One time I made gluten free chocolate chip cookies that
I had made before. It's not a recipe I've done that I've used
enough that I have it known where I can just do
it without thinking about it. But it's a recipe that a friend
of mine brought to a fitness trip I went to
and it's made with almond butter and, and it's gluten free.
(05:09):
You know, it's all these healthy things.
But for sure it's calorie dense. And I, so I ate
so, so, so, so so many. When, when we were on
that trip, I probably, even though we did multiple classes a
day, I probably still brought in more calories, far more
calories than I, than I Burned off. But anyway,
(05:30):
so my. My oldest daughter has celiac and so
does her son. So I decided to make these cookies
to celebrate an occasion with her husband and thought, oh, yeah,
that recipe with almond flour. Well, my memory was almond
flour, not almond butter. Anyway, I had a lot of other things
going on at the same time, so I didn't really look at the recipe
(05:53):
very closely. But as I made it, I could see something is
off here because there's not enough wetness to the cookie dough.
And sure enough, it called for almond butter, which I did
not have and didn't have time to go to
the store and buy any. And I had put in almond flour
instead of the almond butter. And that was a problem because
(06:14):
I completely changed the recipe. So I had to just
improvise. And I found jars of peanut butter that didn't have
gluten that, you know, that were new, that hadn't been used with
a knife. So I was able to remedy. And they were actually really
good. I could never duplicate it. But a lot of
mistakes, oversights are more likely to happen.
And that's why it's dangerous to be driving and multitasking.
(06:39):
We're told that all the time. You know, with cell phones, that
is multitasking when we're using our cell phone, paying attention
to it while we're driving, because the brain is switching back
and forth, and the brain doesn't always remember what you're
doing. And mistakes can be really dangerous if you're
multitasking. Other times, it's just maybe some cookies that
(06:59):
didn't turn out well or a bill that you forgot to pay, but
it actually isn't more efficient, although it might feel like
it is because you're working on more things at a time.
And so it might feel like, oh, I am more efficient.
It might feel like you're saving time because you're able to
get two things done in a short amount of time.
(07:20):
But
studies say. Studies show that you actually spend
more time because you're having to readjust your brain to
bring it back to what you were doing.
Although I would say with adhd, and this doesn't have
to do with the driving aspect, but with adhd, we tend
(07:43):
to need stimulation. We need something to drive
us to do something. And if we are happier cleaning
a closet, going from cleaning the closet to making the bed to
changing the sheets to washing the sheets to whatever, if that
boosts your. Your energy to where you
(08:04):
can actually work on it, and it's kind of fun, and you're in
a flow and you're doing it. Mistakes like that won't matter as
much if you forget that you were in the middle of making your
bed or whatever it is, that might not matter.
And if you're within the same room, it might be okay,
especially if you tend to hyper focus.
So let's say you are cleaning out your closet.
(08:24):
And as you're cleaning out your closet, you see something that
needs to go into the bathroom. You go into the bathroom and you
see when you open the drawer, I have the kind of
energy right now to clean out my makeup drawer.
And then you spend an hour or two cleaning out your makeup drawer.
Go back to your closet. It's quite a bit undone in your bed,
you were throwing the sheets there to the hallway so you could
take it to the laundry room. You might have created quite
(08:49):
a stir of dust in your path. But if
that makes you happy and you're able to accomplish something
that you wouldn't have anyway. My take on it is there
can be some pros there because you're actually getting things
done instead of having your. What are they called?
(09:10):
Wheel spin. I wanted to say wheel spin, but I
almost said wings. So I was like, wings spill.
Wet. Wet. Yeah, my brain is multitasking from trying
to think of words and convey ideas. But yeah, so there, there
can be little hiccups for sure. It doesn't necessarily save
time, but it might cause you to spend the time
(09:32):
doing something that you wouldn't do otherwise.
I spend or waste a lot of time reading threads
on Reddit or whatever it is just because I can't
get myself to do something that feels daunting or
harder to do. But if I get myself doing that and
(09:54):
I happen to multitask at the same time, I'm not going to
stop myself if I'm still being productive.
Does that make sense? But at the same time, if there's something
that really is important to have it work out.
And even laundry. And how many times raise your hand if you've
done this. I always wonder if I'm the only one raising my hand.
But raise your hand if you've ever done the laundry.
And at the end you realize you never put soap in or you don't
(10:16):
remember if you put soap in or you know, it's mid
morning, you have ADHD medicine that you take every morning and
you don't remember if you took it or not because you don't really
have some kind of schedule where when I do this, I
do this and when I do that, is it not.
Do not Have a system set up where that's part of your morning
(10:37):
and you decided to do a few other things before
you left the house that you don't normally do.
And sometimes that happens. Our lives, you know, aren't predictable,
but sometimes our need to get things done when we
feel like it gets in the way of things that are more important.
(10:57):
And if you're not paying attention to what you're doing because
you're in the middle of doing something else, you could forget.
Did you take your ADHD medicine? Did you take your asthma medicine?
I have chronic asthma. So when my asthma is bad, I really
need the steroid inhaler, puffer thing, Advair or
the generic whatever it is, twice a day.
(11:18):
I'm not supposed to take it two times at night and two times
in the morning. Just once at night, once in the morning if I
don't remember, if I don't have a system set up.
And this has happened many times, and yes, they have a counter
on it, but how are we supposed to really remember what the count
was the day before? I don't know. I'm not meticulous enough to
write that down. But when it's important, I do.
(11:38):
Like when I broke my wrist. And if you're on YouTube, you
can see my scar. If it doesn't gross you out.
I don't know if you can see it or not.
Anyway, that's just to give you hope.
When my scar was all red and I thought, is this
what it's going to look like forever?
I went to a fitness trip like I just talked about.
And a woman showed me her scar and it wasn't red, it was white.
(11:59):
And she said, oh, yeah, they fade over time.
Give you hope if your hand can't move.
My hand moves again. Yay. Anyway, so, yeah, when
that was important, when I was taking heavy, heavy pain medication
along with over the counter pain medication along with
medication or, you know, things to make it.
(12:21):
I don't want to. I don't. I never want to be medical here because.
Not that I'm afraid to share information, but just because I
don't want to gross anybody out, but, you know, things to help
my digestion because of the pain medication and all those things
that were on different hourly schedules, like the prescriptive
opioid, which thank goodness I didn't get
(12:44):
addicted to. I wasn't afraid of it, but so same
with everybody else who didn't get addicted to it, so thank goodness
I didn't. But that was every, what, four hours or
six hours? Or something. The other one was every, you know, one
was four hours, one was six hours, one was three hours, whatever.
And then there was also eat before you take this.
It's like, oh, my goodness. You know, and then.
And then the anti nausea. I had to take the anti nausea pill.
(13:07):
Yeah. So I did write it down. It was
that important with asthma. I haven't gotten to that point.
But you may need to be your own assistant if you need
to do something like that. That's important.
But sure. Life is full of multitasking, right?
We get up, we take a shower, maybe put on makeup,
maybe. I have a friend who stopped putting on makeup years ago.
(13:31):
I don't know how she. She did that, but she did.
And she just said then if somebody ever sees me without my makeup,
they're not like, what? You know, like she can just get up and
look the same every day, but. And she also has adhd
and maybe that was her thing. I don't want to do all those steps
anymore. I. I got to that point years ago with washing my face,
probably in college. I don't want to do all this anymore.
(13:52):
But anyway, so yeah, multitasking, there can be
realities of we have to do this other times.
We can control it. Sometimes you have to focus on, I'm gonna
do a single task right now, and that's it.
And that's where the do later list is.
So helpful. I need to get that on my website.
(14:14):
I keep telling you I'm redoing my website.
And yeah, it's looking better, but it's not function super
functional. But anyway, I made a do later
list that's part of. There's a focus guide and then there's a
focus journal. The focus journal has the two do later
list. And it's so wonderful because when you do
(14:34):
need to just focus on one thing, that's what singular tasking
is or doing one task is. Is I need to only
do this. Like the horses with blinders.
I don't know if people ever see those anymore, but in the olden
days in cartoons, they always had them.
I don't know why, but the blinders on, you know, like, you can't
do anything else, but you have so many thoughts that come into
(14:55):
mind of what else you need to do. So that's where
we think, oh, I'm. I'm a good multitasker because I'm remembering
to do all the things that come up in my mind.
My brain keeps thinking of all those things.
Maybe not when I'm supposed to be doing it, but it keeps coming
up. So when you have a place to
put those to do's, those other things that come up, it
(15:18):
can be as simple as I want to go on a walk with my
friend. You know, it might not be like I can't forget this, but
a new idea or I need to buy more laundry
soap or whatever it is. Write it down, write it down,
write it down, write it down. Also, just getting digital things
away. If you're not using a digital item, a phone, a computer
(15:39):
for the task that you need to do, that's where paper is nice,
you know, your own journal to your do later list, you will need
lots of columns. That's why I made this, this printable version
because I found there's so many, there's so many
categories of things that come up in my mind, I had to organize
them. But anyway, so yeah, that's another way to manage
(15:59):
that. But there's a myth that multitasking isn't taxing
on the brain. You know, like it doesn't really affect our brains
and it can actually cause fatigue in the brain.
We might think it's energizing if we're doing more things at
once. And maybe it's just so we can reach that
finish line, not have to think about that thing to do anymore.
(16:21):
But it actually does really tax our brains, max it out, fatigue
it and increase stress. So if you're constantly saying,
what was I doing, what was I working on, where was I?
And then like for me, with recipes that are from Pinterest
or something, I have to bring up my computer again, find it.
(16:43):
You know, I really do like to print out recipes if I find
them on Pinterest just because
I don't like having to turn my screen on again.
And then I might see an email or I might see something that distracts
me. So anything that is non digital, if you don't need to use
a device, make that happen or put on music
or a podcast. It's kind of funny because when I was researching
(17:06):
multitasking, they were saying they were using examples like
folding clothes and watching tv. To me, that is not multitasking.
Like watching TV is not a task, it's an enjoyment.
It's a way to keep me there. So I fold my clothes.
And same with listening to a podcast.
If I'm getting stuff done, it's not a task.
My brain, yeah, my brain's listening to that.
(17:28):
But that is stimulating me so I can get this other stuff done.
So I know I'm breaking all the rules here.
But I don't count that as one. But, yeah.
And it's kind of funny because another myth is that if
you're younger, you're really good at multitasking.
Like, you're. You're able to do it, and it's okay
to do it. Then it's also hard for kids to do this.
(17:50):
It's also hard to study and also be
responsible for this or that or whatever.
It really is better for the brain at
all ages to focus on one thing at a
time. And just having my four grandchildren here this week, I
had to really recognize that. And especially since one
(18:13):
for sure diagnosed with adhd, another one, my daughter is
probably gonna take her in later on.
She's younger, but I see it with my other
grandson, who has adhd, too, that if I
talk to him about doing more than one thing, like, come on, we're
gonna get in the car. Grab your water bottle.
(18:34):
Get your shoes. I am asking him to multitask.
I'm giving him a list of things to do, putting it all in
his brain. Right then when what I've had to learn to do
is. We're about to leave. I need everyone to put on
your shoes. And then, okay, everyone, grab your water
bottle. You know, one thing at a time.
Because just because kids are younger and their brains are
(18:57):
fresher and newer and their bodies are stronger and they're so
much cuter. My goodness. In their skin, hair, everything's so
beautiful. Oh, yeah. Children are so beautiful.
I love children so much. I was thinking yesterday when I was
in the swimming pool with them, it's just reminding me when I
have. When I'm fully responsible for the kids and not just
(19:18):
grandma. It just brings back the feelings
of being a mom. And I love it so much.
And I feel so grateful that I love it so much, because
I know not everyone enjoys it as much.
It's really. And it can be hard. It definitely takes
a lot of your energy. But what a sweet opportunity to be with
children. I feel like that message needs to get out into the
(19:39):
world more because, I don't know, I hear a lot of
people mention children like. Like it's a
difficult or, you know, our children are, I don't know,
hard to be around. They're not hard for me.
I love them so much. Anyway, okay, multitasking.
So is it essential for you to multitask, to be successful?
(20:03):
No. The world makes us think that even with accomplishments,
you know, this person does this, this, this, this, this, and
you look at someone's accomplishments, and you think the Only
way I could do that is if I was just going full speed all the
time working on all these things. Not true.
Not true. People do things in chunks of their lives,
(20:25):
like what they study, what they work on, and they get
exhausted too, if they try to fit in too much.
Also, whatever you put your time and energy or
even money into, there's a limited supply of everything
even. Well, maybe not for the kajillionaires, but basically there's
(20:47):
a limited supply of everything. Of how much energy we have
before we need to go to sleep or how much money if we
put our time and money in this. If I go outside and work
on gardening for a week, a lot of things are going to fall
apart inside the house. And if I'm okay with
that, or I balance it out, or I regroup or reframe how
(21:09):
my life is set up or my system, I might do that.
But anytime you look at someone else and see all of
the things that they do to be successful and think,
I can't do that, what's wrong with me?
You're probably doing things that they're not doing.
Things that might be a priority to you, might not be something
(21:30):
that even matters to them, or they may have the resources
to pay other people to do some of the things that you do, whether
your reason is because of money or just priorities or you
want control of it. A lot of things I want control of, I don't
want other people to do for me, but I don't have the money given
to do it anyway. But. But anyway. Yeah.
So comparing is hard. Is hard because we tend to see,
(21:56):
I don't know, a lot of things that are listed as great achievements
too, aren't a full scope of human life,
humanity. And if you wrote down all the things you
give your time and energy to and the people you bless in
your lives, you would have a very long list too.
It might not matter as much to somebody else, but it matters
to the people that are in your world.
(22:17):
So just that little bit. But yeah, so I.
I really. Speaking of multitasking, Yeah, I do need
to go so that I'm not multitasking, so I'm not doing this in
something else. But I will try to get one more episode.
I know I said I just have one next week, which is this week now
to you, but I know this also hasn't been as long as
(22:39):
I would like to. To cover and stuff.
So I'll give you some more strategies in the next episode.
But June is just around the corner. I am doing June
Decluttering Month. And I want to provide accountability for
any of you who need it. Even if it's just emailing and telling
me what is overwhelming you, clutter wise in
(23:02):
your life, your home, your work, your car.
And even if it's as simple as I want my
car to be clean on the inside and outside for all of June,
email me and tell me and I'll help keep you accountable.
Because I do a thousand times better.
I feel like I'm 7 years old when I. When I give statements like
(23:23):
that. A thousand times better. But anyway, yeah, I do much better
when I'm working with a friend. And I can be your friend.
I'm your friend. And this is. This is free.
There may be days that I have big accountability groups that
might be a paid program or something, but not now.
Right now it's free. So feel free to write to me
(23:43):
renespiringwomenadhd.com or go to my
website today. My goal will be to get a newsletter signup
form on there. I have so many other things on there that don't
matter right now that I'm going to have a newsletter signup
form where you can just where I can email you and then you'll
be in and you'll get my information.
I'm going to send tips and accountability where we can write
(24:06):
back and forth and stuff for June. So that is it.
Thank you so much. I don't want to go now,
but I really do need to go. So thanks again for listening,
watching and be sure to share my podcast with a friend or
a couple of them. I would really appreciate it if our community
grows. Thanks so much. Bye.
(24:31):
Time to sing melodies and harmonies I'm cut
short the silence of sound has yet been found
but not by me
(25:01):
I butter my toast spread on some grape jelly
I don't need to fuss But I'm a chef and
a good wine My grandma can't hear me
now Breakfast is done Ever getting colder Ever
(25:30):
open windows broken shadow
Frozen dreams are left for tomorrow
For a pause,
(26:02):
rewind I run out of time to sing
melodies and harmonies I'm cut short
the silence of sound has yet been found but
not by me.
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