When I read the story about James Gordon Gilkey in Light from many lamps (Watson,1951) , I feel the story just fit my present situation right now and it reminds me of the advise which my learning coach gave me.
After spending a semester in the undergraduate in the other university, I transferred to start this leadership course in Trinity Western University from this September. My life totally changed. Studying master degree is totally different from studying in the undergraduate especially as an non-English speaker international student. I am embarrassed with a new online study environment with demanding online skills and, burden of more reading and more writing. Addition to it, my family got a severe car accident right before and I had to deal with lots of things by myself along with taking care of my children as a single mom. Originally I am good at multi-tasking situations. However in this new foreign environment without any family support, my condition seemed to be the same as”The burden became too great and they became mentally and emotionally upset. Often they require the help of a psychiatrist to straighten them out again”(Watson, 1951, p.219). I couldn’t sleep at all with my stress and got depression. When I went to a doctor and a counselor, I was suggested to stop studying. I almost decided to stop studying. At that time, my learning coach advice saved me. That advice is James Gordon Gilkey’s lesson. “The crowded hours come to you always one moment at a time”(Watson, 1951, p. 219). Even though so many task pile up and seemed that I couldn’t finish everything, focus one by one. Also when I do something, don’t worry about the other thing and just focus the task in front of me. You would not believe but it is very simple but powerful.
Afterwards, I knew this lesson was proved by some scientific researches. The research group of Stanford university revealed multitasking is less effective and productive than focusing a single task at a time (Bradberry, 2018). Also, another research conducted by Sussex university found that people who often do multitask had less density in anterior cingulate cortex where is related to empathy, cognitive, and emotional control (Bradberry, 2018). Multitask is possible to damage our brain irreversibly. From daily life, we would better to focus one by one and avoid doing multitask at the same time.
Reference
Bradberry, T. (2018). Multitasking Damages Your Brain and Your Career, New Studies Suggest, November 17, 2018 Retrieved from http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/Multitasking-Damages-Your-Brain-and-Your-Career,-New-Studies-Suggest-2102500909-p-1.html
Watson, L. E. (1951). Light from many lamps. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Reference
Watson, L. E. (1951). Light from Many Lamps. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc.