MDBCs 22 Feb 2024

You may have been praised for your multitasking skills, but have you ever tried single tasking i.e. doing only one thing at a time? Try it on February 22, Single Tasking Day.

The made-up holiday clearly wants to encourage people to devote all their time and energy on accomplishing one task at a time. Some people also celebrate it on February 19.

Multitasking Lowers Productivity

Recent studies have shown that multitasking - the ability to focus on more than one task at any given time, can be less effective and productive than previously thought. Multitasking can also decrease the accuracy of certain tasks. This is because when one shifts from one task to another, the brain needs time to change focus. This can lead to a waste of time and can cause a lot of stress. Time management can also become an issue for multitaskers.

Increase Accuracy and Productivity

Productivity experts suggest that the best way to accomplish something well is to direct all of one's energy and time on the task. Single tasking increases engagement and helps reduce errors. By improving productivity and accuracy, single tasking can help reduce stress and other health problems that are stress-related.

How to Celebrate?

Make a list of all the tasks you want to accomplish and go down the list one at a time.
Cut off all distractions. Switch off your phone, block the Internet, close your office door, and get started on your list. It may be hard now, but when you are done, you will be proud of yourself!

Did You Know…

…that according to research only about 2% of people can effectively multitask? The rest tend to be less productive when they multitask.

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Be Humble Day

Practice humility on February 22 or Be Humble Day.

Cultures, religions, and philosophies around the world stress the importance of practicing humility in our daily lives. The holiday promotes the idea that accepting our errors and our faults makes us better human beings.

So, take this day to listen to others, not boast about one’s own life and achievements, and to accept that we have faults that we need to work on.

How to Celebrate?

Appreciate other people's achievements.
Take the day to introspect and think of ways to make your life better and to move towards perfection.
If you have children in your life, give them a lesson in humility and teach them that humility is a good virtue to have.

Did You Know…

…that the term humble pie, meaning to apologize after a serious error, comes from a mispronunciation of the world umble pie? Umble pie was a type of pie popular among people with little means in medieval times.

***

Working as a secretary at an international airport, my sister had an office adjacent to the room where security temporarily holds suspects. One day security officers were questioning a man when they were suddenly called away on another emergency. To the horror of my sister and her colleagues, the man was left alone in the unlocked room. After a few minutes, the door opened and he began to walk out.

Summoning up her courage, one of the secretaries barked, "Get back in there, and don't you come out until you're told!" The man scuttled back inside and slammed the door.

When the security people returned, the women reported what had happened. Without a word, an officer walked into the room and released one very frightened telephone repairman.

***

My older son loves school, but his younger brother absolutely hates it. One weekend he cried and fretted and tried every excuse not to go back on Monday. Sunday morning on the way home from church, the crying and whining built to a crescendo. At the end of my rope, I finally stopped the car and explained, "Honey, it's a law. If you don't go to school, they'll put Mommy in jail."

He looked at me, thought a moment, then asked, "How long would you have to stay?"

***

I was on duty as an emergency-room technician when a father brought in his son, who had poked a tire from one of his toy trucks up his nose. The man was embarrassed, but I assured him this was something kids often do. I quickly removed the tire and they were on their way. A few minutes later, the father was back in the ER asking to talk to me in private.

Mystified, I led him to an examining room. "While we were on our way home," he began, "I was looking at that little tire and wondering, how on earth did my son get this thing stuck up his nose and…"

It took just a few seconds to get the tire out of Dad's nose.

***

While serving as chief medical officer at Fort Ritchie in Maryland, I attended a nearby wedding. Since it was a formal affair at a country club, I went in my officer’s dress blue uniform.

Once at the club, I drove up to the entrance, where the doorman promptly came to the passenger door and assisted my wife out of the car.

He then made his way to my side. But before I could get out, he pointed to the other end of the building and said,