Let’s Bring Back Single-Tasking
Photograph: Romain Laprade for Kinfolk
Tucked away in Tokyo’s Ginza district is Morioka Shoten - a bookshop selling just one book. The idea came about when founder Yoshiyuki Morioka visited book publishing events, and noticed how many people would show up for the launch of one book. And so he brings that concept to his small city-centre store. Each week he fills the store with multiple copies of a carefully chosen book. The shop becomes a blank canvas, redecorated and transformed each week to match the mood and atmosphere of the current book on display.
“While it often looks like a gallery from outside, the book is always absolutely at the centre. And according to each book, the image here completely changes.”
I love that idea of giving complete focus and attention to one thing. It allows for so much more detail and care to be given to the telling of a story, than if it just happened to be one of many books available.
Recently I was reading about the idea of single-tasking. In a culture that celebrates the idea of multi-tasking, being able to do many things at once, spinning many plates, we maybe miss the simplicity of giving all of our attention and care to one thing at a time. Could it be that multi-tasking is, in some ways, a backwards step?
“Multitasking is the drive to be more than we are, to control more than we do, to extend our power and our effectiveness. Such practice yields a divided self, with full attention given to nothing.”
Photo by Mathilde Langevin.
I often find this when it comes to working on a project, particularly something creative. Sometimes it’s easy to put it down to personality: “it’s because I’m an introvert”, “I need my creative space” or even gender - I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been told “guys can’t multi-task”. And maybe some people do feel it more than others, but I’m starting to think it’s simply something human. It is difficult to really do something well and effectively when your mind is jumping from task to task. Even things which are quick and easy to do can be enough to derail a train of thought that could have led to a great idea.
Our culture is so connected and fast moving these days that it can be hard to keep track. Our collective attention span is gradually reducing thanks to our scrolling news feeds that show us 50 different topics every minute. Even before I sat down to write this post I was eating lunch while having a conversation with my family, while listening to this week’s Release Radar playlist to catch up on all the new music, while responding to 3 different group chats about three different topics, and every now and then getting the ping of a social media notification or the buzz of a phone call. It’s a pretty chaotic way to work, even to live.
“The attitude toward time and environment known as “multitasking” does not represent civilisational progress... Rather, such an aptitude amounts to regression. Multitasking is commonplace among wild animals. It is an attentive technique indispensable for survival in the wilderness... In the wild, the animal is forced to divide its attention between various activities. That is why animals are incapable of contemplative immersion.”
I love the idea of “contemplative immersion”. To really think about something in a prolonged, meaningful way. I’d like to spend more time in immersion than distraction. To immerse myself in a project, in a place and time. No more of those moments when you’re there, but not really there. And sure, life can be busy, sometimes interruptions are inevitable, but let’s live in a way that we give people our full attention.
I even see it in the life of Jesus. He was somebody who was always in the moment. As we read in Mark 5, even as he is on his way to pray for Jairus’ daughter who was severely sick, he stops to speak and give his full attention to the lady who reaches for the hem of his garment. He could’ve just rushed or given her a half-answer while his mind was on the task at hand - but he stops, slows down, and gives her his full attention.
So, to get practical. Here are some really simple practices I’ve been trying to put in place to grow in this idea of living in a single-tasking kind of way. And to be honest, I’m not even very good at doing these, but it feels like a step in the right direction.
Reading
There’s something about reading a book that forces a slowing down of our thought life. It’s like the opposite of Twitter. One topic, for an extended period of time. I started doing a simple thing of turning my phone off before bed, charging it downstairs and keeping a book next to my bed. Before I go to sleep I read a chapter or two. It might just be 15 minutes, it might be 30 minutes depending on how tired I feel. But it’s time spent thinking about one topic. I’m not doing anything else in that time. No music, no notifications, it’s just me and the book. It’s a great way to slow down.
Leave the phone behind
If I’m going somewhere specifically to spend time with people - I try not to bring my phone with me. It’s amazing how quickly I pick up my phone if there’s a lull in conversation or things get a bit awkward and I don’t know who to speak to. A recent study found that “77% of users in the18-24 age group admit they reach for their smartphone if nothing is occupying their attention”. I’m trying to learn to be bored again. To not feel the constant need to occupy my attention, and to actually be with the people I’m with.
Create focus space
This one applies more to the work environment. But if there’s a bigger task that I want to complete, particularly something creative: I’ll find space and time to do it. It might be another room, it might be wearing headphones. But I’ll also make sure to mute notifications for that time too (my phone has this nice feature where I can put it face-down and it will mute notifications, but nearly every phone has a Do Not Disturb feature of some kind, or at least an off button!) - and I’ll even close those extra tabs and apps that run in the background - for me: Slack, Tweetdeck, Discord, WhatsApp, Spotify (“what, working with no music in the background?” Yes. Sometimes silence is actually better!). Make space to give your full attention to the task.
I hope you find these tips helpful, and I’m sure you have your own techniques too, which I’d love to hear in the comments. But this is a journey I’m still very much in the middle of. To live a life that feels less like Amazon.com and more like Morioka Shoten.
