Double-tasking

I remember when multi-tasking became all the rage.  How many plates can you keep spinning at one time?  That idea appealed to me as it came during the season of caring for little ones and homeschooling, and as much out of necessity as anything, I incorporated it as often as I could.  Alas, multi-tasking turned out not to be so great after all--more stress with less done less well. 

Now that life has slowed down a bit, I have discovered what does work, and I call it double-tasking.  Since tasks vary in the amount of focus they require, it works quite well to pair up certain jobs in order to use my time the most effectively.  Here are some job pairing that work well for me:

Phone conversations while folding laundry or dusting.

Watching a movie while ironing.

Using my iPad to do my daily Bible reading while I do the dishes.

Cleaning is always an opportunity for planning, meditating, or prayer.

Using picking up the mail and refreshing the bird baths to get some sunshine/vitamin D.   

Cooking works well paired with short tasks such as emptying the the dish drainer or sorting through mail that I can do in breaks between food preparations, though I have found it works best to do tasks that keep me close to the kitchen.  However, I have found that baking and talking on the phone is generally not a good idea.  Those forgotten ingredients or unintended substitutions made a few things less than tasty.

Double-tasking not only lets me get more done, it has the bonus of making a "mindless" task more enjoyable.  Nice!