Multitasking

Assalamualaikum w.b.t

It was quite some time that I felt something was wrong with me. I can not really cope with what I studied and I didn't feel like studying at all. It felt as if everything was a sheer waste of time and energy as I tend to forget things and required more drilling and repetition to retain inputs in the brain. I just kept going and thought that maybe it was due to some problems and unsolved matters that remained undecipherable. Seriously they took a toll on my brain and under pressure as a medical student, I occasionally thought of giving it up- at least for a while. Time by time, I even looked further ahead and knowing that a doctor is a profession with supposedly no margin for error, nothing seemed to make me feel better. I never helped myself to justify this ongoing self-degrading phenomenon and I started to feel bad about myself. All I could do was to pray and at the very least maintained the best level of my minimum performance. And Allah said in Surah Al-Baqarah, Chapter number two, Verse number 155, translated as follows;

And certainly, We shall test you with something of fear, hunger, loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give glad tidings to As-Sabirin (the patient ones, etc.)

It is typical me to always have many things to achieve in life. I like to set aims but too many aims are always troublesome. I did really well being whom I was before and as time changed, I finally realized that I too have to change. I am currently pursuing a degree in medicine and that certainly suggests that I should be more focussed on what I am doing. No more grab it all but now is a time to avoid the greed for knowledge and make way for prioritizing. Multitasking, as the title suggests.

I stumbled upon an article about Multitasking from STARMAG authored by Jessica Yadegaran and it had a life-changing impact to me personally. Well, not so much of the whole life, but the way I conduct myself especially in doing works and finishing tasks- this of course includes studying and memorizing facts.

I read the article over and over again and try to understand as much as I could from it. Allah is great. He actually wanted me to learn a lesson and the absence of productivity was actually due to the presence of multitasking- and that is the way I see it. I used to be a high multitaskers and I thought I was really good at it but it proved me wrong and dragged me down so much towards stagnancy, if not deterioration. So here I am again with an end to a journey, and the beginning of a new one.

Let me make it short. In the article, the writer explained a result of a research conducted by cognitive scientists from Stanford University about multitasking. They recruited 100 students from which they divided into two more smaller groups. One is the high multitaskers and the other is the low multitaskers. People who do at least 5 things at one time are constituted as the former while those with lower are grouped in the later. After running a number of tests involving memory and one's attention to stimuli, they found out that the low multitaskers significantly outperformed their peers. This suggests a fair conclusion that brain is to a certain degree negatively affected from the habit of multitasking. In further elaboration, it says that one can have trouble remembering, focusing and switching tasks be it at work or even at school, because of too much of multitasking. Three major aspects briefly introduced as affected are safety, productivity and also education. Safety- one example is when one is driving while at the same time texting message on mobile- which is considered very dangerous as the car is left on autopilot mode so unwanted accidents can at any time take place. A simple one, isn't it? I won't elaborate on the other two aspects though.

The lesson from it is that we need to sit down and look back at the way we train and set our brain. In my case, I know I have to be more realistic and considerate to my own medulla oblongata and therefore limit the burden of tasks I put on it at one time. I honestly feel some changes after I came to realize about this and after I made some amendments. It is easier to remember things now and focus on tasks that I am up to. So friends out there, have you had the same problems? Consider multitasking as one factor. Maybe it'll help. Hope this sharing can help you make your life different, a little, if not revolutionary. Thank you very much for reading and for your time.

With love,

Mohd Amirul Asyraf bin Mohd Hanaffi

P/S: That's my real name, in case you don't know whom Ibnu Hanaffi is. ;) Take care!