Distracted

Doing ONE thing at a time. Are you kidding me?!? How ancient.

How are you doing with this? I am this guy on the left.

What I should be doing:
Completely, fully engaged with the client on the other end of my phone. Locking eyes with my kids when they need to talk with dad right NOW. Holding hands with my wife as she tells me about her day. Listening with all that is within me.

What I do:
Facebook. Foursqaure. Twitter. Blogspot. Tripit. Football. News. XM Radio. iPhone. Bills. Email. iTunes. Fantasy Football. Surfing Cable Channels. All at the same time!

Why don't we do one thing at a time?

"Multi-tasking - Screwing everything up simultaneously."

I think we all have ideas of what we gain by doing many things at once. So let's let them be. What is lost? How about your life. Literally. Figures released at the conference by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showed more than 5,800 distracted driving deaths and 515,000 injuries last year. Do you tweet while driving? I have. Do you check the new email? I have. Foursquare. Yep. Will you stop doing it? Probably not. Sad isn't it. What is this feeding that we would ignore how haphazard this is?

Let's keep looking at what is lost.

When I watch Football games. I don't just watch the game. I'm watching multiple TV's. I'm also checking out facebook updates. Twitter updates. Watching my fantasy football match-ups. Chatting with other sports fans. Skyping with my friend in Manama, Bahrain. But what if I miss the big play. No problem. I'll just pause the live feed and rewind. So what it lost here. I guess nothing.

So let's get real. Real live human beings. I started off talking about clients. Kids. Spouse. Let's try the last paragraph again. When I talk with my clients. Kids. Spouse. Friends. I don't just talk with them. I'm also checking out facebook updates. Twitter updates. I think you see where I'm headed with this. But what if I miss the big moment. I'll just rewind....hmm...I'll.....it's gone. So what is lost here. EVERYTHING. It’s hard to resist the lure of sneaking a peek at Facebook and Twitter during a conversation or firing off text-messages.

Back to the unanswered question. Will you stop doing it? I hope so. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Just 'be with' the person right in front of you. Be curious about the 'updates' they are sharing with you. Setting boundaries helps — no Twittering during dinner; phones belong in bags, not on the table; etc.

Take the next moment and just do one thing.