So interesting that the word “multitasking” was originally used to describe computers…

Brilliant, as usual, Sara. Thank you for taking the time to post this thoughtful chronology of your day. I remember being a young mother, and totally in love with my daughter, and very often thinking “how” did I manage to get through that day?” I wasn’t a student at the time, but was trying to run my own business attending to the needs of 5-8 very busy and demanding clients.
At the time, multi-tasking wasn’t a ‘thing’ yet: i referred to what I did as ‘maximizing the seconds’ – meaning I often ate while driving and listening to the news (15 minutes x 3 tasks = 45 effectiveness minutes, or something like that). And, you’re right, your executive functioning and ability to maintain focus does change over time – particularly when you have young children. It’s actually a biological way to keep you focused on caring for your child(ren).
I really appreciated your reflection on being mindful: I have been working on that myself, and just taking a minute to think about what I’m doing and why can help put me back on track … sometimes. But I am often impacted by those around me who are more interested in what I can do for them than how they can support me, which makes the mindfulness practice tricky.
I think one of the keys is keeping a sense of humor and maintaining connections with people who feed your soul creatively, energetically, intellectually, supportively and spiritually. I am a bit envious of your work group and the support you seem to be able to derive from it. Glad for you!!

Keep up the brilliant work. And, by all means, find the time to do what makes you happy. You’ll be glad you’ve developed those habits in the future.

Multi-tasking is not that easy in a classroom setting with only 50-min length. I feel like every time I was given some time to complete a online reading quiz just before the class, even it only requires 5 mins, the whole class will need to spend at least 10 min to complete them. After that, we tend to discuss it a little bit and express our feelings. By the time the instructor finally have all our attentions, it has been 15 min. Fortunately, this is a 2.5-hour class, so the professor does not worry too much about the time left. Same problem can be identified in the some programming class that instructor talks about some examples while students need to run their own program on personal computer.

Great post. This is something close to my heart. I have never been able to focus too long on a single task. I used to “pretend” to multi task. I realized that I was fooling myself. New plan: I started to focus my attention on small tasks, which allowed me to change from one task to another. It takes away the monotony of being stuck with a single activity and helps me to be a “little” productive (relatively speaking of course).

I always enjoy reading your posts,( and your other work!) on the digital world. Your insights are eye-opening for me. I do believe that use of electronics is an addictive behavior. It is for me. My world would change drastically if it all stopped tomorrow. I think this is where so many students are as well. Not only that, I believe some students have trouble writing, I mean writing with pen and paper. I wrote my name down for something and a young person could not read my name because they could not read cursive. Writing in print takes so much longer. I believe some students are not equipped to write notes with pen and paper. My strategy so far has been to give students the research – pen and paper notes works better for you and then let them decide. The spatial organization of the room I have now makes it hard for students to “shop” without me seeing them, so this has helped – along with a break in the middle of class to check devices, to give into their addiction. I’m not at all sure this is the best method and posts like yours challenge me to think about it.

Great post Syeed. We must indeed create a place for intellectual diversity in our classrooms. In research labs, this is a little more tricky. Would this not give rise to concerns about unfairness and unequal treatment among grad students?

Hi Bethany! I really enjoyed your analogy on agriculture, monoculture, and specifically, corn. I immediately thought of this NPR bit from 2012 about this photographer who was doing a project on biodiversity. Here is the link–
https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2012/11/29/166156242/cornstalks-everywhere-but-nothing-else-not-even-a-bee
Let me know what you think (and if that link doesn’t work). I found this project to be extremely fascinating! David Liittschwager, the photographer behind this project, has a book called: A World in One Cubic Foot.

I agree with you on the notion that you have to go all-in when you decide you will incorporate a practice of diversity and inclusion. Writing a statement like this has been extremely difficult for me to articulate well (which is why I wrote about multitasking–my statement just isn’t there yet!) ….but despite this, I’m going to keep working on it. I appreciate that you are addressing this mentality of “just stick to the science.” I believe that when we willingly put on blinders to the world around us that we are actually contributing to the problem. You’re right, we don’t have to champion EVERY issue, but even scientists should care about social problems….we’re all human beings, right? Anyway, I say all that to say that you will get your diversity statement. It may take some time, but your heart is in the right place and I know it won’t be too tough for you to pen one once you have your ideas lined up.

I like your diversity statement rooted in your personal experience. Having a diversified classroom or lab setting is always a challenging task, but if you manage it well, it can become a very exciting and rewarding experience since all classmates or labmates and even the instructor/supervisor can actively learn from each other. Achieving this balance takes some special techniques, and some examples listed in your post are quite refreshing. It’s really good to see you already have some thoughts and even practice some techniques on diversity during your graduate study!

Ooohhhh…. yeah. And don’t forget the ever-demanding email acct.(s). I feel like I need to put a footer on my emails that says “I only check emails once a day, if I actually have time, while eating dinner (if eating alone).” Such a conundrum this connectivity that enhances our ability to communicate and learn, but hampers our ability to communicate and learn.

If you figure out anything about studying for prelims., let me know. allright? I’m gonna’ be right behind you it looks like.
Thanks for posting, Jason. Always a delight to read.

I would like that Busting a Book guide also!
Thanks, Dr. N.