The Multitasking Myth: How Somatic Awareness Helps You Reclaim Focus, Flow, and High-Performance
Multitasking is often worn like a badge of honor. Juggling emails during meetings, replying to messages while cooking dinner, mentally drafting tomorrow’s to-do list while pretending to listen to a colleague—it can feel like the only way to keep up. But what if multitasking is actually costing us more than we realize?
The Pitfalls of Multitasking
On the surface, multitasking seems efficient. But research tells a different story. Studies show that switching between tasks can reduce productivity by up to 40% and increase mental fatigue. Our brains aren’t wired to handle multiple complex tasks at once—they’re designed to focus.
When we multitask, we’re not truly doing things simultaneously. We’re rapidly shifting attention, which often leads to:
Decreased performance and accuracy
Increased stress and overwhelm
Shallow connections and strained relationships
Reduced creativity and problem-solving capacity
And perhaps most importantly, multitasking pulls us out of the present moment—disconnecting us not just from our work, but from ourselves and the people around us.
Why Multitasking Is So Hard to Let Go
Many of us multitask out of habit or pressure. The ping of a notification, the fear of falling behind, or the internalized belief that “busy equals valuable” can keep us stuck and spinning. But what often goes unnoticed is the toll it takes on our bodies: tight shoulders, shallow breath, clenched jaws, and a constant hum of restlessness that we’ve come to accept as normal.
This is where somatic awareness becomes a powerful skill.
Somatic Awareness: A Way Back to Focus, Flow, and High-Performance
Somatic awareness is the practice of tuning into your body’s signals—using sensation as a guide to presence, clarity, and well-being. When you notice what’s happening in your body, you begin to catch the subtle signs of autopilot multitasking before it takes over.
By learning to recognizing what you’re feeling—anxious, pressured, scattered, disconnected, drained—you create a pause between stimulus and response. That pause opens space for intention, for calm, and for a more skillful next step.
Small Somatic Shifts to Try Today
Here are a few gentle practices to support your shift away from multitasking:
One-Minute Grounding Pause: Before starting a new task, pause for a minute. Feel your feet on the floor, let out a sigh, notice the support of the chair if you’re seated or the floor if you’re standing.
Body Check-In During Transitions: Between tasks or meetings, scan your body. Where is there tension? What might soften? What needs support?
Focus with Curiosity: Choose one task today to do with full attention—writing an email, listening to someone, folding laundry. Notice what it’s like to stay with it from start to finish.
Name Your Inner State: When you feel rushed or scattered, simply pause and name it: “I feel scattered” or “My energy is spinning.” Naming builds awareness and opens choice.
A More Embodied Way of Working and Living
You don’t have to abandon productivity or performance to reclaim your focus—you just need a new relationship with how you engage. Somatic awareness offers a path toward a more sustainable ways of being and doing.
Because when your body is calm, your brain has space for clarity, focus, and critical thinking.
