Sarah Paulson Quotes

If you're studying from a book and trying to listen in on a conversation at the same time, those are two separate projects, each started and maintained by distinct circuits in the brain. Pay more attention to one for a moment and you're automatically paying less attention to the other.

It's hard to watch something go on and be talking at the same time.

You wouldn't read 'Anna Karenina' and try to work on the computer at the same time, would you?

Multitasking divides your attention and leads to confusion and weakened focus.

When you think you're listening to several conversations at once, they tell me, you may really simply be time sharing - that is, listening a little bit to this one, a little bit to that one.

I find that I can't work and listen to radio - either I find I don't like it and it distracts me, or I do like it and I want to listen to it.

When you drive, you are doing several things at once. You are using your eyes, ears, hands, your mind. If you have meditated for many years and have reached a lofty height in your meditation, as I have, you can meditate while running and cycling and painting.

I had spent years thinking about one thing while I was doing another. I had, in fact, prided myself on being able to do two things at once.

While you're writing, you can't concentrate nearly as well on what the speaker is saying.

I used to listen to 'Woman's Hour' every morning, but I've discovered that I can't have words on when I'm working.

We used to think that you could pay attention to five to nine things at a time. We now know that's not true. That's a crazy overestimate. The conscious mind can attend to about three things at once. Trying to juggle any more than that, and you're going to lose some brainpower.

How can you read and talk at the same time?” I asked. “Well, I usually can’t, but neither the book nor the conversation is particularly intellectually challenging.

Most of us can easily do two things at once; what's all but impossible is to do one thing at once.

How can you think and hit at the same time?

Task switching is hard because we do not control what is on our mind. Despite our efforts, the original task continues to occupy our mental bandwidth. Although we can control where our time goes, we cannot fully control how our bandwidth is allocated.

Experts say you can't concentrate on more than one task at a time.

As every divided kingdom falls, so every mind divided between many studies confounds and saps itself.

You can't be aware of everything. You'd fall down the stairs if you were aware of every intricate thing involved in going down stairs.

Multi-tasking arises out of distraction itself.

Some people think they are concentrating when they're merely worrying.

When I was younger, I was able to write with music playing in the background, but these days, I can't. I find it distracting. Even when the music is just instrumental or has lyrics in a language I don't understand, the clash between the voices in my head and the song can be very disorienting.

There's no such thing as multitasking.

The only factor becoming scarce in a world of abundance is human attention.

I think people who multitask pay a huge price. They think they're being extra productive, and I think when you multitask so much you don't have time to think about anything deeply, you are giving the world an advantage you shouldn't do, and practically everybody is drifting into that mistake.

We've lost the ability to immerse ourselves in things.