A few people from work asked me to do a thing or two for them. I had to say YES, because: 1.) I was the only one who can do it; and 2.) It had to be done by today.

Normally, after I laid out my plans for the day, I would zone out everything and carry out my plan. If I get interrupted by favors indirectly related to my regular work, I would accept it and politely say “I’d finish it as soon as I can.“

But today was a lot different from my normal Friday, which is supposed to be lighter, compared to other days of the week. Today, I had to endure extended work and a couple of distractions. (I felt the need to sugar-coat the word “distractions” and use “challenges” instead, but, decided against it because they are what they really are: distractions.)

Since I had to beat a lot of deadlines this day, I had to invoke my “Level 3″ multi-tasking skills to get the jobs done. Missions accomplished, but at the end of the day, I was physically exhausted.

You might ask: “Isn’t it much easier to just decline the requests and simply do what you’re supposed to do?“

It’s not, if you live in a society. It’s hard to say no when people are depending on you. It’s difficult when you know that these kinds of distractions are once-in-a-blue moon situation — they don’t happen often. So you have to be considerate.

Multi-tasking is not always doing two or more things at the same time. It is also the ability of doing other productive things while waiting for the other one to be accomplished. The art of multi-tasking is stealing idle time of one task to achieve another goal. It is tough, because you tend to lose concentration on one thing as soon as you start doing the other.

Multi-tasking requires grace under pressure, and not so many people have it. The ability to switch back and forth different tasks without losing poise and focus requires a lot practice. Fortunately, I was trained to do that when I was in college, particularly during the thesis period. I remember “coding in my head” during breaks, and I happily would resume programming upon seating in front of the computer.

When I know new tasks are looming, I strategize my multi-tasking. I prioritize and drop the less important immediately. I make sure I stay calm. I like the idea of watching myself like I am on TV. How do I look from the audience perspective? Do I look irritated or busy? Do I still smile when people greet me? If my answer is no, I will gather myself and turn the work pace a little slower. Now, I am saying this because it is beneficial to me. I realized long before that I can be efficient and effective under duress and I feel good about it.

If you haven’t done it before, I encourage you to practice multi-tasking because distractions are unavoidable, no matter how well you organized your day. If by the end of the day, you feel that you are more productive than ever and you loved what you did, then that’s a good sign that multi-tasking is for you.

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