Most people who accomplish things of value, whether that means rearing great kids or writing a great novel, know how to focus. They focus on their goals and prioritize so that what they do throughout the day moves them towards their ultimate destination. The concept of multitasking moves us away from the kind of focus we need to move towards our goals.
Focusing is especially important for writers. We can be imaginative in five-minute slots as we rush to meet colleagues for lunch--we can have the perfect idea for a novel--but we can't sustain the kind of creativity we need to design an alternative world that readers get sucked into and live in while they turn the pages of what we've written.
The greatest struggle for most writers isn't having good ideas or creating characters. If we couldn't do that, we probably wouldn't be writing. Our greatest struggle is admitting that multitasking isn't going to get us where we want to go. Anyone who wants to create--writers, scientists, software designers--have to learn to turn off the noise of the 24/7 world and focus on that one thing we want to do better than anyone else.
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