last few days in London

While in London, I made an effort to detox my NYC exhaust-ridden lungs by taking daily walks in the crisp English air.

And while repairing my lungs, I also tried to become a better person by listening to podcasts about everything from “How to Raise a Successful Child” to “The 8-Hour Diet.”

(Yes, 8 hours. We’ll revisit that on another day.)

Celebrating my MIL’s birthday at Asia de Cuba in London.

One fine multitasking day, I listened to a TED talk delineating the reasons it’s important NOT to multitask.

Highlights:

• People are 1,000% happier when they are focusing on ONE specific task (Sorry I don’t recall the exact percentage as I was multitasking).
• People are far more successful when they focus on ONE specific task (These people must have an army of nannies).
• People are for more irritated when they focus on multiple tasks (True. But if I wasn’t doing multiple tasks I’d be thinking of how I was capable of doing multiple tasks, and I’d be irritated I wasn’t utilizing my time wisely).

My MIL’s birthday cake.

I decided to put the podcast into practice:

I stopped in Hyde Park, took out my earphones, and decided to focus on the lake and ONLY the lake for an entire 5 minutes.

Final bird visit in Hyde Park.

My thought process:

• Wow, the swans are so quietly synchronized. Pretty.
• Must be nice to be a swan – I bet they aren’t trying to unlock the keys to success.
• And exercise isn’t something they have to attempt to work in to their day! No 8-hour-diet for them.
• But seriously, how much can one swim around all day without getting bored?
• I wonder if it’s been 5 minutes yet?

A happy moment on the flight home. British Airways – you’ve come a long way since I last flew on your planes. Literally.

So in case you are still reading this nonsense, here is my takeaway:

A focused life would be great.

But until someone figures out how to import the European workweek and gets Maya to stop asking me super important questions like “Should I have frozen yogurt from 16 Handles or Tasti-D-Lite today?” I’m thinking that the multitasking is here to stay.