0:02

Hey, Lisa. Hey, Lee. It's good to see you today.

0:06

It's good to see you too. Will you help me with something? Of course.

0:09

I can't remember what day it is. It's Frontal Lobe Friday. Good morning,

0:13

my friend. I hope you're doing well. Dr. Lee Warren here with you, and it is Frontal Lobe Friday.

0:18

Thanks, Lisa, for kicking us off with that. Hey, I've got a short message for

0:22

you today, but I want you to focus, okay?

0:25

Focus on getting your frontal lobes as efficient and effective as you can because

0:31

they are your command center of your brain.

0:34

When your mind directs your frontal lobes properly, your frontal lobes are the

0:38

executive office, the C-suite, the boss of everything else that happens downstream

0:43

in your brain and in your body and in your life.

0:45

It starts with mind, under control of spirit, as we've talked about.

0:49

We are a spirit-mind-down group of self-brain surgeons here.

0:54

We're not determinist reductionists.

0:57

We don't believe that we're all a bunch of neurons firing and that everything

1:00

comes out of electrical processes and we're just a random bunch of events happening

1:04

that have no real underlying purpose or meaning.

1:06

We don't believe that. We're created fearfully and wonderfully in the image

1:10

of the great physician. Hey, today we're going to talk about multitasking and

1:14

why multitasking is a myth and the different ways that it can hurt your life.

1:18

And we're going to understand the way that our frontal lobes are designed to

1:23

help us maximize our efficiency so that we can become healthier and feel better and be happier.

1:28

So we're going to talk about multitasking and the myth behind it.

1:31

But before we do that, I have one question for you.

1:35

Hey, are you ready to change your life? If the answer is yes,

1:39

there's only one rule. You have to change your mind first.

1:42

And my friend, there's a place where the neuroscience of how your mind works

1:46

smashes together with faith and everything starts to make sense.

1:50

Are you ready to change your life? Well, this is the place. Self-Brain Surgery School.

1:54

I'm Dr. Lee Warren, and this is where we go deep into how we're wired.

1:58

Take control of our thinking and find real hope. This is where we learn to become

2:02

healthier, feel better, and be happier. This is where we leave the past behind and transform our minds.

2:08

This is where we start today. Are you ready? This is your podcast.

2:13

This is your place. This is your time, my friend. Let's get after it.

2:18

Music.

2:24

All right, let's get after it. Hey, everybody, and by that I mean everybody

2:29

that I've ever known, including me, thinks that we can multitask.

2:32

We believe that we can do more than one thing at a time. And the truth is you sort of can.

2:38

I mean, you can obviously drive your car and listen to music and talk to the

2:41

person on the phone or check your phone while you're driving.

2:46

You shouldn't do that. You can obviously eat and have a conversation at the

2:49

same time. You can obviously watch television and do a Sudoku puzzle at the

2:54

same time. You can do those things. Okay.

2:57

But are you really doing more than one thing at a time?

3:02

The truth is, from a neuroscience standpoint, you're really not.

3:05

What you're really doing is switching back and forth because your brain can

3:09

only actually do one thing at a time in terms of directed conscious effort.

3:13

Okay. You have a lot of automated processes. Fortunately, our hearts beat,

3:18

we breathe, we have all kinds of autonomic things happening in our bodies that

3:22

we don't have to think about. We have the gift of automated processes, the autonomic nervous system,

3:30

we call it, that keeps things rolling so we don't have to deal with things like,

3:34

do I need to breathe or do I need to worry about the acid production in my stomach?

3:38

Your body's going to take care of a lot of that. that God built you as an incredible

3:41

complex system of multiple different things happening at the same time that

3:47

you don't have to direct. In fact, there's some pathologies. There's a disease called Andean's curse.

3:51

It happens with a small stroke in the brainstem that knocks out automatic breathing.

3:56

So those people literally have to be awake in order to breathe because they

4:00

have to think about every breath that they take. And so those people don't have time to talk to you or think about anything other

4:06

than taking the next breath to keep them alive. And for that reason, they require mechanical ventilation. They require tracheostomies

4:14

and artificial respiration, or they die when they fall asleep.

4:17

And it's not much of a quality of life if all you can do is think about taking your next breath.

4:22

So those people show us that it's not possible to multitask with life or death body parts.

4:27

Fortunately, God created us where those things are kind of automated.

4:31

But the problem is, we think because our frontal lobes are so amazing,

4:35

and because we have the ability to switch back and forth so rapidly between

4:38

multiple things, Thank you. We begin to believe that we actually can have multiple things under our control

4:46

and command at the same time, that we can multitask, and that we're better at

4:50

it than other people, perhaps. Most of us think we're really, really good at multitasking, but all of the research shows,

4:57

Google that, Google neuroscience research related to multitasking,

5:02

and you're going to see that what you really do is shift your focus and your

5:06

attention from one thing to the next. Now, we've been talking about attention and focus a lot lately on this show,

5:11

and I'm writing about it in my new book, Self-Brain Surgery,

5:14

the handbook of self-brain surgery. This is going to be your compendium of all these self-brain surgery operations

5:18

and all the science and all the data behind why we need to change our minds

5:23

if we want to change our lives and why mind is in control of brain and body and ultimately life.

5:29

It's a big deal, okay? But all the research shows that you might think you're

5:35

accomplishing many things at the same time, but what you're really doing is

5:38

switching back and forth. And when we talk about attention and focus, we know that when we pay attention

5:43

to something in a particular way, we have the ability to make that thing more or less real,

5:47

to expand it or reduce it by focusing our brains on it and thinking about it

5:52

in a different way, in the proper way, in the right context.

5:55

But when you shift back and forth from one thing to another, there's a cost to that.

6:00

There's a problem with it. Now, you know this experientially already because

6:03

you've had lunch with somebody that you were really looking forward to catching

6:06

up with, or you have a few moments with your parents or a few moments with your

6:09

kid, and somebody's checking their email the whole time or switching,

6:13

looking at Instagram or Facebook the entire time, and you're having a conversation,

6:17

but they're not with you. You've seen whole families at restaurants where everybody's looking at their phone.

6:22

And yeah, they're in the same place and they're talking amongst themselves and

6:25

they're eating a meal together, but nobody's together because they're all dividing

6:29

their attention and focus with something else.

6:31

And you know when you're on the other side of that table how that feels.

6:35

The person is not really with you.

6:38

They're really in some other mode. They're really in some other world.

6:42

They're really connected with other people instead of with you right then.

6:45

It's not multitasking, okay? It's dividing and reducing the attention and focus that you can pay to a particular thing.

6:53

So people think they can start two projects at the same time that they can drive

6:57

the car and listen to the radio effectively, that they can scroll through social

7:01

media while having a meal with their folks,

7:04

that they can respond properly to emails and work on their computer while they're watching a TV show.

7:10

They can listen to somebody talk while also jotting down some notes about a

7:14

meeting that they have coming up or a to-do list or something else.

7:17

They think, we think, that we can do these things.

7:21

And the real question is, what's the cost? The science shows multitasking takes

7:26

a big toll, a huge hit on productivity.

7:29

When you're doing two things at once, neither of them actually gets done as

7:34

well or as effectively or as sort of efficiently or as accurately as you would like for it to be.

7:40

You'll miss nuance in a conversation with somebody else if you're scrolling on Instagram.

7:44

You will miss nuance and detail in an email that you're writing if you're also

7:49

watching the latest episode of Blue Bloods or whatever it is that you watch

7:53

on your television. Thank you. Research suggests, it's very clear now from the neuroscience research that's

7:59

out there, just Google it, you can find tons of information.

8:02

Multitaskers are more easily distracted. They have trouble focusing their attention

8:06

even when they're not working on multiple tasks at once. Remember one of our

8:11

Ten Commandments of self-brain surgery. What you're doing, you're getting better at. So if you train your brain that

8:17

it needs to be trying to divide its focus and shifting its attention back and forth,

8:21

growth it's going to become better at shifting

8:24

its attention back and forth and the cost of that is it's

8:26

going to become less good it's going

8:29

to become worse at staying focused on

8:32

a particular thing so think about this your kid comes to

8:35

tell you something really important and you try to pay attention to

8:38

them but at the same time you're thinking about this email you just got you're

8:41

thinking about something you need to get done you don't want to forget you're

8:44

thinking about did i post that story on instagram or not and you're not really

8:48

listening even though you're actively not doing more than one thing at a time

8:52

because your brain is ready for that next switch.

8:55

It's looking for the next thing that you've trained it to do by constantly trying to multitask.

9:01

So you become more easily distracted. You have trouble focusing your attention,

9:05

even when you're not trying to multitask.

9:07

So there's a cost to having one foot in one place and another foot in another place.

9:15

So research shows clearly there's a connection between multitasking and easy distractibility.

9:20

And the link basically between those two varies a little bit between person

9:26

to person. So some people are better at it than others.

9:28

But the real question is, do you want to be good at not being very good at the

9:34

thing you're trying to be good at? That sounds pretty heavy, doesn't it? But you train your brain.

9:40

What you're doing, you're getting better at. Here's another thing that research shows.

9:43

Multitasking actually slows you down so that you're slower at each of the things

9:47

that you're trying to do. It's very clear from the science now that if you do one thing until it's done

9:51

and then switch to another thing, you'll be more effective, efficient,

9:55

accurate, and speedy at both things. Okay?

10:00

So, while it seems kind of counterintuitive, you tend to work slower and less

10:06

efficiently. when you multitask.

10:10

There's a thing the psychologists call task switch costs.

10:13

It's what we just talked about. Task switch costs. When you switch,

10:17

your brain has to take a second or a nanosecond or a millisecond or some amount

10:20

of time to re-engage with the current process.

10:24

So there's a task switch cost, a negative effects that comes from switching back and forth.

10:29

You're using some of your microtubules and some of your energy and some of your

10:33

cellular respiration products to re-engage the new task from the one you just

10:38

switched away from instead of just staying focused and getting the task done.

10:43

So in some ways, as we've talked about, you're thinking about thinking about

10:47

the thing for a second before you're actually thinking about the thing,

10:51

which then slows you down. So it actually drains your productivity and the impact that you have on other

10:58

people and sometimes harms the relationship that you have with other people,

11:02

when you try to multitask. When you focus on a single task that you've done before, your brain can sort

11:08

of switch into autopilot. That's synapses, right?

11:10

We talk about how you create synapses to automate processes that your body gets

11:15

good at, but you can't engage synapses if your attention is directed somewhere

11:19

else because you're trying to build new synapses over there.

11:23

So autopilot, synaptic reproduction frees up mental resources,

11:28

but switching back and forth bypasses that process because you've got to re-engage

11:32

conscious effort and thought to re-engage the thing that you switched back to.

11:37

So if you're constantly doing that back and forth, then you have this task switch

11:40

cost that's draining your productivity, efficiency, effectiveness,

11:43

and speed, and harming your relationship with other people.

11:47

Because no matter how many times we do it, nobody likes it when somebody else

11:51

is not paying attention to you. Nobody likes it when somebody else has one foot in your conversation and one

11:57

foot in Facebook. Nobody likes that.

12:01

Multitasking is directed by the frontal lobes, the higher executive functions.

12:04

That's why we're talking about it on Frontal Lobe Friday.

12:07

These tasks, these functions control and manage the cognitive processes and

12:12

determine basically when, how, and in what order certain tasks are performed.

12:17

So you have to choose consciously, which takes effort, to decide what you're

12:22

going to focus on and how you're going to focus on it.

12:24

And when you're going back and forth, you have a constant sort of goal shifting

12:28

and rule activation process that's happening that's requiring you to spend mental

12:33

energy not doing the things you're trying to do, but deciding which one you're going to do.

12:39

So moving through the stages back and forth has a significant cost in terms

12:44

of overall energy, mental drain, you'll be more fatigued, less effective,

12:48

and sometimes actually harmful. Remember our first commandment?

12:52

I will not harm myself. I will relentlessly refuse to participate in my own

12:57

demise. Well, guess what? Multitasking actually causes you to make mistakes. It causes you to harm yourself.

13:04

So I'm not saying don't ever listen to the radio while you drive your car.

13:07

I'm I'm saying you need to be aware that there's a cost to splitting your attention.

13:13

Multitasking, multiple studies have shown, reduces performance,

13:16

decreases GPAs in students who try to study for more than one thing at a time

13:20

or multitask in class, do math homework while they're in their history class.

13:25

They don't do as well on testing as if they just focus on the place and the

13:30

time that they're in right now. Adults, and not just college kids, but adults have lower performance while multitasking.

13:38

We found a study in 2018 showed that adults made a lot more mistakes when driving

13:43

if they're also doing something else. So they're making wrong lane changes without signaling.

13:49

They're missing stop signs. They're missing a turn because they're focused on

13:53

something else, talking on the phone, listening to music, something that's distracting

13:57

them from the task at hand.

14:00

Now, brain function has been shown to be affected negatively by people who constantly

14:08

train their brain to try to multitask. People doing several things at once have cognitive decline faster than those

14:15

who don't engage in that type of behavior.

14:18

And almost everyone that's been studied overestimates their ability to multitask.

14:23

Most of us think we're really good at it. But the truth is the people who do

14:27

it the most are actually worse at it than people who infrequently multitask. Why?

14:32

Because your brain is getting trained to be switching back and forth,

14:35

and that means you're having to think about the fact that you're getting ready

14:38

to switch back and forth, and you're having to use mental resources to pull that off.

14:42

So people who chronically multitask

14:45

also become more impulsive than their

14:48

peers they have lower levels of

14:52

executive control and they're more easily distracted more easily frustrated

14:56

and less effective overall because they tend to downplay the risks associated

15:01

with tackling multiple things at once so you have limited cognitive resources

15:06

we all start with a certain set of cognitive tools,

15:10

and we don't have more than that, and we can't make more than that.

15:12

And when we multitask, we decrease them and make them less effective.

15:17

So we become worse at goal setting, completion, task appropriate,

15:21

choosing of tasks, and completion of those tasks. And we harm relationships.

15:26

So giving you this big picture idea of what our frontal lobes do and how we

15:33

can and mess them up, and now I need to give you some strategies to deal with it.

15:38

Now, I want to bring this home on the spiritual side, because I constantly encourage

15:42

you to spend the first 15 or 20 or 30 minutes of your day with the Lord,

15:46

to learn how to have some quiet time. It's been shown numerous studies that if you spend the first part of your day

15:52

calming your mind, getting your distractions under control, and listening to

15:58

some music, spending some time in the Word, doing some things to prehab for

16:01

your day against the inevitable, traumas and dramas and tragedies and difficulties that we'll have,

16:06

that you have a better relationship not only with God but with other people,

16:10

and you're much more effective at your work when you get that quiet time under

16:16

control. But here's what happens. This happens to me.

16:19

I sit down for my quiet time. I put some headphones on. I play the Bible app,

16:23

and I'm listening to the Bible. And I think, well, while I'm doing that, I'll just check some email.

16:29

While I'm doing that, I'll do this. Then I've got my Bible study happening, but I'm also trying to engage with the outside world.

16:37

And then that means I'm not as effective at listening and letting the word do

16:40

some healing and work on me. Because I'm dividing my brain. Yes, I'm checking the box of spending that time,

16:47

but I'm not really engaged.

16:49

I'm not really engaged in the prayer. I'm not really engaged in worship because

16:53

I'm also trying to do something else.

16:56

This is my problem with churches that have coffee and a donut and all that stuff

17:01

happening and encourage people to use their cell phones to take notes.

17:04

And I don't have a problem with that, but I'm saying a lot of those people,

17:07

they're taking notes on their cell phone, they're drinking a cup of coffee,

17:10

they're eating a donut, they're listening to the worship, and they also,

17:12

well, while I've got my phone open, I need to check this Instagram post.

17:16

I need to check my email real quick, just real quick, because you're taking

17:19

yourself out of worship.

17:22

You're switching from one thing to another, and there's a task switching cost.

17:28

Associated with that. So what do we do?

17:31

Number one, spend some time training your brain to have 20-minute or 15-minute

17:36

or 30-minute chunks of time when you only do one thing.

17:39

It will feel impossible at first, but what you're doing, you're getting better at.

17:44

So use a 20-minute rule, 15-minute rule, 30-minute rule, whatever you want to do.

17:48

Start with five minutes. And I get emails all the time from people that say,

17:51

hey, I'm really trying to take captive all my thoughts, but I'm really struggling.

17:55

I can do it for a little bit and then I fall apart. Well, try it for one minute. Try for one minute. Every thought that pops into

18:00

your head, focus on it, think about it, biopsy it, decide if it's true,

18:04

decide if it's helpful, decide if it's compassionate, and decide how you're

18:07

going to respond to it for one minute and then see how it feels.

18:10

And then you can do two minutes and then you can do five minutes.

18:13

And then before you know it, you're going to have this surprising arrival of

18:16

mastery that we're going to talk about next week on Theology. you Thursday.

18:19

Okay. So number one, limit the number of things that you're willing to try to

18:24

multitask. Make some decisions today.

18:27

I'm going to do this thing, this conversation with my spouse,

18:30

this moment with my child, this time of folding laundry, this time of doing a work project.

18:36

And I'm not going to switch to my email while I'm doing that for 20 minutes.

18:41

I'm not going to check Instagram while I'm having this breakfast with my spouse.

18:46

I'm only going, I'm going to put Put the phone away. I'm going to engage with them for 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever.

18:53

So limit the number of times you switch. That'll train your brain to start paying

18:58

attention and digging in more thoroughly in this moment, at this time,

19:04

with this person, for this purpose, or with God for this time.

19:08

Batch your tasks, okay? Bundle things that you do.

19:14

Like if you're constantly checking email, for example, then do that for 30 minutes.

19:19

Like go, I'm going to spend 30 minutes in email. I'm going to clear everything

19:21

up, send everything, respond to everything. And then I'm not going to check email again until tomorrow or until this afternoon or whatever.

19:29

Email is a highly organized way for other people to set your agenda,

19:33

by the way. Brenda Burchard said that. So batch these things. If you're going to check Instagram, spend 30 minutes

19:38

on Instagram and then don't spend another 30 minutes on it for X number of hours

19:43

or until the next day, right? So you make a deal with yourself.

19:47

You make a vow to yourself that I'm going to do this thing now.

19:50

I'm really going to do it. I'm going to spend some time, make my posts,

19:52

send my emails, do whatever. Then I'm going to switch to that lunch meeting that I have and be a hundred

19:57

percent and present with that person at that time.

20:02

Limit distractions. So don't try to read your Bible while you're listening to music.

20:07

Spend some time with worship music and getting that right half of your brain

20:10

connected, then read your Bible and spend that time with your left language

20:14

cortex digging into the Word and seeing what happens.

20:17

But don't try to do both at the same time.

20:21

And get that mindfulness thing going where you're bringing to mind the things

20:25

that you want your brain to do, like telling your brain, telling your body,

20:29

calming your mind, using your mind to control brain and body.

20:33

And be mindful about the things you're going to do. I'm about to have this conversation.

20:37

I'm going to spend 30 seconds right now before that person gets here and think

20:41

through how that conversation should go. And I'm going to purposely turn my phone off or put it on airplane mode.

20:46

I'm going to purposely set myself up for this conversation, this time, this moment.

20:51

Be as effective as I can be.

20:53

You know what? People will start noticing that when I spend time with her,

20:57

she's really with me. When I spend time with him, he's really there.

21:01

And God will notice too. This has to do with a couple of scriptures.

21:06

Luke 9, 62, Jesus said, this sounds kind of like a harsh teaching,

21:10

but he said, nobody who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom.

21:16

So Jesus is saying right here in this moment, like, hey, I want both hands on the the plow.

21:21

When you're talking about living your life for me, I don't want you looking

21:24

back over your shoulder and trying to be here and be there at the same time.

21:28

He's saying, focus, dig in, commit, follow this plan.

21:34

I want you to plow this row and not be looking back over your shoulder.

21:38

Paul said in Philippians 3.13, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold

21:42

of it, but one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what

21:46

is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize, right?

21:50

So he's saying, hey, there's some stuff in your past.

21:54

And if you've been through trauma or major drama or tragedy or some massive

21:58

thing, part of your multitasking might be that you want to be in this moment

22:03

with your family, your friends, your career, your life now.

22:06

But you also constantly want to be in that other moment, in that other place.

22:10

And you're plowing up the ground of that trauma again.

22:13

And what the word would say is that your brain can't actually do both of those

22:17

things at one time, friend.

22:20

And maybe one of the reasons you're not making the kind of progress you want

22:23

to make right now is that you're dividing your mind.

22:27

And it's not time to, I'm not saying you can forget everything.

22:30

I'm not saying you shouldn't work through trying to heal.

22:34

I'm saying the healing process starts with where you are now,

22:38

informed by where you've been and looking forward to where you're going.

22:44

But you got both hands on the plow because guess what? No matter what you've

22:47

been through, your life is now.

22:50

God's got a calling and a purpose for you. Trying to multitask all the time

22:54

is diminishing your effectiveness and resilience and your ability to be here

23:00

now and do the things that you need to do.

23:03

What you'll find is what you're doing, you're getting better at.

23:05

The more you focus on learning how to do one thing at one time until it's done

23:09

right and done well, or until that moment is passed and it's time to do something

23:14

else, you'll be better at all the things that you do.

23:17

And that, my friend, is how you change your mind. And that is how you change your life.

23:22

You don't have to multitask. And the truth is you really can't.

23:26

So let's reduce the amount of time that we're spending in more than one place.

23:31

For doing more than one thing. And let's start doing those things in a way that honors God,

23:37

helps other people, and leads us towards healing, meaning, purpose,

23:41

and yes, maybe hope and happiness again.

23:43

And the good news about all that, my friend, is that we can start today.

23:49

Music.

23:54

Hey, thanks for listening. The Dr. Lee Warren Podcast is brought to you by my

23:58

brand new book, Hope is the First Dose. It's a treatment plan for recovering

24:03

from trauma, tragedy, and other massive things.

24:06

It's available everywhere books are sold. And I narrated the audio books.

24:10

Hey, the theme music for the show is Get Up by my friend Tommy Walker,

24:14

available for free at TommyWalkerMinistries.org.

24:17

They are supplying worship resources for worshipers all over the world to worship the Most High God.

24:23

And if you're interested in learning more, check out TommyWalkerMinistries.org.

24:27

Or if you need prayer, go to the prayer wall at wleewarrenmd.com slash prayer,

24:32

wleewarrenmd.com slash prayer.

24:35

And go to my website and sign up for the newsletter, Self-Brain Surgery,

24:39

every Sunday since 2014, helping people in all 50 states and 60-plus countries

24:45

around the world. I'm Dr. Lee Warren, and I'll talk to you soon. Remember, friend, you can't change your

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life until you change your mind. And the good news is you can start today.