There was a moment ten years ago when I was working on a doctorate, working a full-time job, and being the stay-at-home parent for two under-five kids.
There was a moment a year or two after that when I was raising a puppy, two kids under five, and working a full-time job.
Now I don’t have any kids under five. Or under ten. And I’m not mid-divorce or mid-doctorate.
But one thing that dawns on me tonight is that I just don’t multi-task as well. When I’m in the middle of typing something and something interrupts me, I can’t step away, handle the thing, and return mid-sentence and keep typing more or less without even thinking about it.
Now, the context switches are rather expensive. If I’m interrupted, I often won’t even realize to come back. And if I do, I won’t remember what I was doing or quite enough to pick up where I left off.
Maybe a big part of this is that I’m just a lot older than I used to be.