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Tips and Tricks for Multitasking Success
by Stephanie DeClue
I'd like to say it all started when I started library school, but that would be a lie. I am actually a compulsive overachiever! I like to be the first and the best at whatever I do. Not that I always succeed, but that is always my goal. In the last three years, I started and finished (early, I might add) a Master's in Library Science. While in that program I added a second daughter to my family and started a new position as a branch manager in a large urban library system. I also managed to keep the house clean, make sure everyone had clean underwear, and spend some quality time with my husband and my children. And I owe it all to multitasking.
Multitasking is the art of doing seventeen things at once. It is the ability to train yourself to use every hour of every day and to be productive at all times. More and more students are entering library school at later stages of life. That means there are more students who are juggling families, jobs and school at the same time. As librarians (or librarians-in-training), we want to be everything to everybody: parent, co-worker, friend, student, keeper of the gates of knowledge, etc. Unless you learn the art of multitasking, this juggling act will cause a nervous breakdown.
There are several important things to remember in order to be a successful multitasker, especially when you have small children:
The mantra of multitaskers is "Just Do It." Whiners usually don't multitask well. Your busy life is of your own doing, so why spend time whining about how busy you are? The more you get done, the closer you are to your goal. There will be time to read that new Patricia Cornwell book later.
Always be doing two things at once. If the kids are taking a bath, clean the bathroom. If you're watching that one TV show you cannot live without, fold laundry while you watch. If you are waiting in a doctor's office, read a journal or a chapter of your textbook. There is almost always a way to do more than one thing at a time.
When you are busy, you need to make use of all of your time. The leisurely restaurant lunches with your co-workers (yeah, right) will become a rare treat rather than an every day occurrence. I have spent most of my lunch hours during my graduate studies in my office reading articles or typing papers. In fact, I'm on lunch break right now.
In an effort to maximize my time with my family, I chose to do most of my schoolwork when my children were sleeping. It helped that their bedtime was 7:30 (or 8:00, if the oldest begged for another story, then a glass of water... You see where I'm going here -- be flexible!). After they went to bed, I went to the computer. I am living proof that your body can function for at least three years on four hours of sleep per night.
This is essential. Your weekly planner will be your best friend. Write EVERYTHING in it. When you are truly multitasking, you have to schedule everything, even when to walk the dog. Every hour is an hour you can be accomplishing something. And if you write it down, be sure to do it. If I don't finish a task for a day, I don't move it to the next day. It sits there on the day I scheduled it, waiting to be done so it can be crossed off. The guilt alone is enough to make me do it.
We live in a wonderful world of e-mail, laptops, and cell phones. These can all be the busy person's best friend. When I first started in library school, I would be sitting in the doctor's office (I was pregnant, remember? I spent a lot of time there) writing papers on a legal pad and then typing them into the computer that night. It was frustrating and time consuming to write the same thing twice. Then I discovered the PalmPilot with a folding keyboard: the poor man's laptop. I could sit in the doctor's office and type my papers into my Palm and then uplink it to Microsoft Word that night. Technology saved me a lot of time that I could spend doing other things. Don't assume that you can't learn how to use a nifty gadget that can save you time. Retailers want these products to be available to the widest possible audience, so they take great pains to make them user-friendly. And if you still can't figure it out, there's always 24-hour customer service.
"Procrastinating multitasker" might sound like an oxymoron -- but it isn't. I am the queen of the procrastinators. I waited until the last possible moment to begin assignments and turned them in right at the deadline. Whether you schedule a task a week early or on the day it is due doesn't matter, as long as it gets done. Procrastinators probably have a little more stress when they are faced with tight deadlines, but it's a choice we make. Don't let your procrastinating nature prevent you from tackling a new challenge.
No one can work all the time. You have to give yourself an opportunity to blow off steam and relax. If you can't miss The Simpsons, put it in your schedule each week. Make time for the things that make life fun. Also make time for your family. If you are in school or starting a new, more demanding job, your family is making some sacrifices for you. Make sure that you make some sacrifices for them by giving up a whole Saturday of study or work time to go to the park or the zoo. You will be more relaxed and they won't feel like they miss you so much.
Victor Hugo said: "He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign."
Busy lives require organization. Without it, there is no direction. By the time this article is published, I will have graduated from library school. I'd like to say that I will take the time to read some Patricia Cornwell novels and smell the roses -- but I'm sure there's another challenge waiting for me around the next corner!
Stephanie DeClue is the new Public Services Librarian for Whiteman Air Force Base. She was previously a branch manager with the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library and Information Center.