From Trash to Cash: the river overflows

skintbint_2

hi again - nope still snowing - well actually blowing a bit of a blizzard - just had the nod from a bobby that as from tomorrow that driving with snow on the roof of your car will cost you £60 and 3 points - its tooooooooooo fekin cauld to do the windows never mind the roof - especially if your a wee short erse like me! seen the weather forecast down to -10 later in the week but am glad i'm not in inverness they're getting -14. orders beginning to build up for January - weyhey and have 9 xmas cakes so far, am trying to get plans together for next year and a couple of us are looking at setting up a co-operative but all doing different things - a bit like what we talked about long time ago with a website - remember that must have been about april time, didnt think we'd still be here and thats us into December!

jo70mo

Dying to dribble but soo nearly caught up on my work from being ill and wrecking computer. Have had to be tough on myself - never easy for me.lol.
Nearly there though so hopefully back soon. love all the chat about next years challenge. getting excited already!
Loved the writing Elly.
Still got snow here but not desperate. and not enough to keep DH off work.
Jo x

paulabear

Ooh, never thought of that - MSEr is one letter away from miser! That's ace, someone should tell Martin and we can all be famous lol Really enjoyed reading that Elly!
Have had a knackering day pushing the buggy through snow, up to school, nursery, little one's two year-old check, nursery, school again and home. With stupidly heavy steel toe-capped boots on (I bought them because they were £11 - mse woohoo!). Unlikely to be at school tomorrow either.
My lovely MIL is coming up on the 16th to pay for the middle one to go to nursery all day so she can help me organise my house because I admitted I was struggling. And I bought a Firstwheels carrycot in amazing condition for £3 in a charity shop, they're going for about 10X that on Ebay, yay! OH just unintentionally taught DS the naughy word for his family jewels when I aimed badly throwing the remote control over...just thought that'd make you laugh xx

elly68

whoohoo on accepting help paula,sometimes thats all you need is a little bit of help.well i'm away to work again toay oh keeps managing to get e there is that a hint lol wont get any thanks for it you know while others sit in their houses .will get caught up on paperwork as pts cant make it in

nixinixi

Morning peeps! Hope you are all warm and well! I was browsing the Avon website earlier and found this article about multitasking which I enjoyed and I want to share it with you, but I think you have to be logged in to see it so I am copying it here ...naughty I know, but it gave me some food for thought, as I sit here drinking hot chocolate, listening to the radio and typing this message!!! (You will see the irony if you take the time to read it lol!!)



From manic multitasker to Zen unitasker in one month flat

Right now I’m writing this with the stereo silent. The TV black.The room dark. I am focused on nothing else but this glowing computer screen, the blinking cursor, and the words appearing in 12-point Helvetica. I’m not paying attention to the clinking drum solo of my radiator. I’m certainly not paying attention to my two-year-old son outside my office door, apparently doing annoying celebrity impressions. I’m doing this because I realise I have a problem focusing. My brain is all over the place.

Unless I’m doing at least two things at once, I feel like I’m wasting my time. Phone and e-mail.Walking and reading. Chatting, watching The Office, checking Facebook, and playing with my sons.

In one sense, task-juggling makes me feel energised, fulfilled, like I’m living three lives in the space of one. But I also know I’m overloading my circuits. I can’t think straight anymore. My mum has noticed; she complains when I click through my e-mails while talking to her on the phone (and by talking, I mean that I throw out an occasional “Uh-huh” and “Sounds great”).

I’ve been reading a load of books on multitasking. It’s really a life-or-death problem―no exaggeration. The culture of distraction is rewiring our brains, making us less happy, less able to connect with people and form a conscience. Multitasking makes us feel efficient. But it’s an insane delusion; it actually just slows our thinking down. Our brains can’t handle more than one higher cognitive function at a time. We may think we’re multitasking, but we’re really switch-tasking. Toggling between one task and another. First the phone, then the e-mail, then the phone, back to the e-mail. And each time you switch, there are a few milliseconds of start-up cost. The neurons need time to rev up.

Hence, I’ve decided to begin a little project I call Operation Focus. I pledge to go cold turkey from multitasking for a month in a quest to regain my brain and sanity. I’ll unitask―that is, perform one activity at a time. And just as important, I’ll stick with each thing for more than my average 30 seconds. I’ll be the most focused man in the world.

Day 1
Today is my first day without multitasking. I start by taking a shower. That’s it. No noise coming from the shower radio. It’s weirdly quiet, just the sound of water splashing into the bath.

Embrace the stillness, I say to myself. Feel the water on my face. My brain is not cooperating. What the hell is going on? it whines. It sounds a lot like my kids in the backseat demanding a DVD. Next I sit at my desk (I work from home) and read a newspaper. That’s all. Without checking my e-mails or eating breakfast at the same time.

This is awful. I feel as if my brain has entered a school zone and has to slow down to 20 miles an hour. My plan is to leave my BlackBerry off till noon. I break down at 11:30.

At lunchtime, Julie (who also works at home) and I are in the kitchen. “Somehow the liquid soap in the bathroom dispenser disappeared,” she says. I stop what I’m doing―making a peanut butter and jam sandwich―and look at her. Must unitask. “So I filled it up with soap from the kitchen. And I was washing my hands with it, and it smelled weird. And I realized I had used dishwasher liquid by accident.” At this point during a conversation, I’m usually doing something else. Picking up stray cups, for example.

“So I bring it back to the kitchen, because I don’t want to waste it. And I’m cleaning the coffeepot…” You know, I’d love to invent contact lenses that have tiny TVs embedded in them. You could be looking straight at your coworker, but little does he know, on the inside of your lenses, you’re enjoying CSI: Miami. “...and the suds won’t go away. I had to wash the coffeepot for five minutes.” I’ve always wanted to learn Braille. That way, I could be having lunch with my boss, making polite noises, while my fingertips read an Andrew Jackson biography underneath the table.



Day 4
I’ve got to do something about my desk. This is where most of my crimes against focus occur. There are so many temptations: snacks, cups of water, caffeine. I pop up from my desk once every five minutes. So I take a long extension cord and tie myself to the grey desk chair in front of my computer. I knot it five times in my lap. It feels kind of safe, like a seat belt.

Five minutes later, I think of adjusting the lamp, since the bulb is spotlighting my face like I am about to sing a solo in A Chorus Line. But then I would have to unknot the cord and get up. I keep my bottom in the chair and return to my computer. It’s working!

Day 10
Studies show that meditating is an excellent way to improve your focus. There’s something called an executive system in your brain; it directs your attention, almost like the conductor of a symphony. So meditation is like going to conducting school. A little more than a week into my experiment, I take the bus to a nearby meditation centre.

“Let’s bow to our pillows,” says the instructor, Derek, to us eight beginner students. Each of us dutifully presses his palms together and bows to his assigned chocolate-coloured cushion. We sit down in a circle. Derek speaks soothingly. He talks about how meditation helps us slow down and see the “amazingness of the universe.” After 15 minutes, he asks, “Does anyone have any questions? Because I could ramble on all day.”

I raise my hand. I like random musings as much as the next guy, but I want to get to the meat. I say to him, “Can you give us the technique for meditating? Any tips?”

“I’m going to get to that,” he says. There is a tiny ripple of annoyance in his pond of calmness. Oops. Not so Zen of me. Derek does give some simple marching orders: Sit up straight; keep your eyes open but don’t focus on anything; try not to move. Our starter gun is a wooden chime that he knocks. And we’re off on a 15-minute sit.

I sit. And sit, staring at the floor. I listen to the guy next to me breathe. He’s breathing loudly. Really loudly. Worse, my monkey mind is still hopping all over the place. I’ve got a ways to go before I reach unitaskingNirvana, apparently.


Day 16
“Can we eat dinner tonight without multitasking?” I ask Julie.
“What does that mean?” she says.
“No TV. Just a quiet dinner.” It’s 9 p.m. The boys are already in bed.
“Sounds nice.”
“Also, no talking. I really just want to concentrate on eating.”
She’s sitting on the bed. She collapses her head on her knees. “Why do you choose the worst times to ask me these things?” She has had a long day and is in no mood to sit in silence.
I put out the plates, and we each take spoonfuls of our vegetable pad thai takeout. We sit across from each other. We’re silent for several minutes. How long has it been since Julie and I have eaten together at home, just the two of us, without firing up the television.
“This isn’t so bad,” I say. “It’s relaxing.”
“No talking,” she says.
Julie and I met when we both worked at the same magazine. I was on the 28th floor; she was on the 29th. We knew each other as colleagues for five years before our first date. Julie once told me that now, every month or so, she looks at me and thinks, Hey, that’s A. J. Jacobs from the 28th floor. What the hell is he doing here in my house? I’m looking at her across the table, and I’m having a Hey, that’s Julie Schoenberg from the 29th floor moment.
“I’m glad I met you,” I say.
“No talking.”


Day 22
I’m in line at the corner shop to buy a drink. So naturally I say to myself, “I’m queuing to buy a drink.” I speak it out loud, as confidently as I can. The guy in front of me swivels his head.

“I’m looking around the store,” I continue. “I see a stack of oranges and bananas.” He looks at my head for a headset to reassure himself that I’m on the phone. Nope. I’m just talking to myself. “And now I’m getting my wallet out of my trousers.”

He edges away from me.

Saying aloud everything I am doing at a given moment is all part of my new strategy for unitasking. As a kid, I had the admittedly bizarre habit of pretending to be a sportscaster announcing my life. I’ve taken it up again.

If I start to absentmindedly multitask, I’ll be the first to know. No secrets from myself. It has other benefits, too. It forces me to live a mindful life and help balance my emotions. For example, the other day I found myself saying, “I’m walking through Central Park. I’m in the middle of a crowded city, and I can barely make out the buildings, barely hear the traffic. I just see trees and jutting rocks and grass. Amazing.” And when I was upset, the very act of saying “I’m angry” made me calmer. Yes, I still kind of wanted to smack the person who was irritating me, but at least the exercise gave me a little distance and perspective.


Day 26
For half an hour each night, I’ve been sitting on pillows, lowering my lids to half-mast, cupping my hands in my lap, and trying to meditate. The first four or five times I thought I might die of boredom. I fell asleep twice, once with my eyes open. I also tipped backward once, just about banging my head on a bookshelf. (Business idea: meditation helmets.)

I read one book that said the key to meditation is to remember it’s hard work. It’s mental exercise, like free weights for the prefrontal cortex.

So are my focusing muscles getting ripped? As primitive as my meditation is, it does seem to be helping me in real life, at least a little. These days, when I’m sitting at my desk, I’m quicker to notice when my attention wanders. Where are you going? Get back here, you big lug. I’m also much more aware of what I’m thinking about. It’s as if I’ve created a lifeguard for my mind, always watching, scanning.


The Last Day
The plan is to hunker down and do a full day without multitasking. I stash my cell phone on the top shelf of a closet. I do my morning meditation.

And then I blow it. I check the news at noon. I take a cell-phone call while making my turkey sandwich, though I beg off after 45 seconds, ashamed.

It’s now 5:30, and I’ve just punched the clock. I walk to the living room, where my son has just dumped all the change from his watermelon-shaped piggy bank onto the rug.

His mission is to pour out all the coins and put them back in. Then repeat. He invites me to collaborate on this important project: “Help, Daddy!”

I clink a coin into the slot. “I’m putting coins in a piggy bank with my son.”

I say this sentence out loud. It could be I’m woozy from fighting off a cold, but I start to well up with tears. I’m suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude. I have three sons. They are healthy. They get pleasure from putting coins in a slot.

Just outside my brain, 3,000 different things bark for my attention. But right now I’ve put up a soundproof wall. I am going to put nickels in this watermelon with my son.

It is the perfect, undistracted 10 minutes.


A longer version of this essay appears in A. J. Jacobs’s The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment (Simon & Schuster), out this month.

paulabear

Lol Nixi, I tried this and my brain went mental trying to escape - first I kept making what I was trying to concentrate on into a song - "I am mashing the mash, I am mashing the mash" to a little tune, then I kept singing it in the back of my mind while I was doing the next thing and had to remember to change it, then I couldn't think of the words for what I was doing so I was saying "I am stirring the thing, I am stirring the thing"...I just kept laughing at myself!
I'm learning that being on the computer turns up the intensity of my ADD to the point of getting stressed because I can't settle on one task at all when I've been online for a while. So I'm banning myself except in small doses. I'm also attempting coming off the Prozac - I feel like I've flicked a switch inside that means I can stop myself from succumbing to the depression. I'm learning not to beat myself up about mistakes and stuff because it's counterproductive. Hopefully I'll be a bit more alert but I'll keep some back just in case
Has everyone got their decorations up? i keep putting off doing mine because of the hassle of keeping the kids from getting the baubles off the tree lol, maybe I can find some way of attaching it to the ceiling so they can look but not touch! Big hugs all, hope you're all doing great xx xx

elly68

hh the fun of christmas trees its the dog in our case lol hubbys putting it up on sat when i'm out drinking again

moneymabel

Paula-how long have you been on the Prozac? don't come off it too soon, i think i did and am now back on it :-( Have been told that you should stay on it for 6 months after you feel better the first time you take it and after that up to 2 years for re-occurances of depression. glad you are feeling better tho hun!

nixinixi

lol Paula - love the idea of you singing to yourself whilst mashing potatoes ....minds you technically isn't that multi-tasking by singing and preparing food!!??? I like the concept of concentrating on one thing at a time, but I really struggle ..... probably why my life is so complicated!

Hugs Mabel!!

moneymabel

Hugs back at ya nix!