A guest blogger!

Today we have a guest post from health psych student, Dorothy Jolley.

I recently thought of my husband’s remarks: "You can only think of one thing at a time."  I am a multitasker and inevitably it lands me in trouble.  How valid is thinking of one thing only? When I have reminded myself to take a deep breath and do an immediate prioritized task, forget about the rest, life seemed to fall into place.  However, I am reluctant to accept advice from my partner and maybe that is my problem :)

I recently learned that thousands of fear-struck students succeed when they thought they would fail (Salkind, 2006).  They did it by doing one thing at a time (Salkind, 2006).  Bill Mansell (2013) said that the power of the mind is released only if you focus on one thing at a time.  The mind is like a stage, only one performance can play at a time (Mansell, 2013).  You decide what plays on the stage of your mind. For example, what would happen if factory workers tried to produce baskets and radios on an assembly line at the same time?  Chaos.  The human mind is the same.  For the mind to release the power of thinking – think of one thing at a time. 

Multitasking is especially prevalent in colleges and universities, instructors find it another barrier to student learning (Kamal, Dong, & Kevlin, 2016).  In a college classroom, students check emails, text, tweet, or play games while supposedly listening to the instructor (Kamal et al., 2016).  These distractions cause interference in learning.  A study found that when student’s mindfulness improved, changes in mood, perceived stress, and better sleep patterns became evident (Caldwell et al., 2010).  By minimizing multitasking in an academic setting, it reduces the ability of students to retain what they learn (Caldwell et al., 2010). 

Hence, we can only think of one thing at a time to allow a more intense focus on what we are doing or studying.  The mind’s power is released if we think one thing at a time and by being mindful of a task on hand it produces better mental and physical balance.   

References

Salkind, N. J. (2017). Tests & measurement for people who (think they) hate tests & measurement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Mansell, B. (2013). Focus your thinking.  Retrieved from http://www.mindperk.com/articles/focus-your-thinking/

Caldwell, K., Harrison, M., Adams, M., Quin, R. H., & Greeson, J. (2010). Developing mindfulness in college students through movement-based courses: effects on self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, stress, and sleep quality. Journal of American College Health, 58(5), 433-442. doi. 10.1080/07448480903540481