Tunnel vision is another way of saying that you’re focused on one thing. If you’re recording a video right now, you’re only thinking of that video. That Twitter update doesn’t matter until you finish recording the video. That’s tunnel vision.
Multi Tasking is trying to write in a notebook and look at your statistics at the same time. You write in your notebook, and then you look up every once in a while to look at the statistics. That’s multi tasking.
Multi tasking seems like the better choice since you get two things done at the same time. I wrote a blog post about multi tasking saying that is was possible. I read other people’s blogs while running on the treadmill.
If you have a choice, tunnel vision is the way to go. Multi tasking allows you to accomplish your goals based on quantity. Tunnel vision allows you to accomplish those goals with quality. When you’re taking a break from recording that video, you can check that Twitter update and reply quickly, but then it’s back to the video.
With tunnel vision, when you see something else emerge, you ignore it or spend little time on it. Then, you go back to what you were doing. I find tunnel vision very useful when it comes to writing one of my books or blog posts.
However, when it comes to taking notes, it is essential to multi task. When the speaker says something important, you write it down and wait for the speaker to say something else that is important.
Multi tasking and tunnel vision have their own benefits. In some cases, multi tasking will work better than tunnel vision. If you listen to what the speaker has to say, and you don’t write anything down, what have you learned? However, tunnel vision is usually the better approach. Usually doesn’t mean always though.
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