Why do I always burn the pine nuts? (Or The Cost of Multi-tasking)

It happened again! Sure it happens less these days, but there is something about roasting pine nuts on the stove that is a fine art. And one that I often fail at.

Argghhh!

There are a load of reasons why I burn pine nuts. Many can probably be traced back to a small digital device that buzzed, or a small child, or a meowing kitten… Shall we say my attention was taken elsewhere – sound familiar? And pine nuts are a sensitive (and expensive) feedback loop for my attention. It doesn’t take long for that warm nutty scent to turn to sickly charcoal. Fortunately, my son seems to be going through a burnt phase at the moment, so all is not lost. But more often than not, these nuts go into the bin never to have been enjoyed…

So, apart from the three quid, what else does task switching cost me?

This research, summarized by Jory MacKay, shoots a hole right into the heart of my sabotaging mindset of: “I’ll just do this one thing, while I wait…” Have you ever been guilty of that?
And are you aware of how much it costs you?

The irony is that while fitting things into my day can make me feel super productive and a bit like a hero, it is actually counterproductive. The only problem is, not all my work is cooking pine nuts, and rarely do I get the feedback so immediately or powerfully that I am actually wasting my time or my nuts!

So next time you burn the pine nuts, just wonder what else you might have burnt away in your day. And remember, it all happens in the little cheats of “multi-tasking” that leave us exhausted and with nothing to show for it but a bunch of burnt nuts.