Are you a great multitasker?

The word is even hard to read – I read something the other day about multitasking.  It said that only 2% of us are really capable of multitasking effectively.  I think that’s insulting.  I see people all the time driving and eating and texting and talking on the phone and putting on makeup and hardly anybody hits anybody.  Or at least I think that’s true.  I don’t really remember what I saw, but I’m pretty sure I saw it.  I’m sure if there was an accident I would have looked up from entering the address of the next house on my list into my phone.  I would have at least heard it; unless I had my Brian Buffini training CD up too loud.

What were you saying? – It could be that we all are a little distracted by all the stuff we bombard ourselves with throughout the day.  I went to the Atlanta Home Show a couple of weeks ago to see if there were any great new ideas for my clients who were moving into a new home, or maybe needed a good idea to get their current home ready to sell.  Well I tell you what; I saw a lot of this multitasking going on in a relatively small space.  Except I think “multi” may be overstating the facts a bit.  There were a high percentage of these very nice display booths that were manned by folks who I assume thought they were multitasking.  You know the ones, the people standing in front of the amazing and interesting wall of facts and brochures about a great home improvement idea who can’t look up from their smart phones to acknowledge your existence.  I’m just glad I wasn’t paying the guy sitting on the stool in front of the recycling company’s full size truck who we stood inches away from for at least a full minute who never slowed his thumb down long enough to look up.  I think I’ll wear brighter shoes next time.  I believe they thought the “multi” aspect of the tasking was that they were right there if you really needed them, and they were still staying in touch with their FB friends.  Just like all the guys and gals texting and eating in the car that are sure they are pretty much ready to make a move; you know, like if something were to happen.

It can make you stupid – The same article pointed out that we are distracted at work every 10.5 minutes by unrelated online gibberish.  We are so much more interested in everything “else” that is going on around us that we use our smart phones on a date 67% of the time; no wonder nobody’s getting married these days. We even use our phones in church 33% of the time to check emails and to check out the World Wide Web.  We cannot even perform the relatively mundane task of watching TV without layering on another even more mundane task like browsing the internet 42% of the time. They say that doing all this multitasking while working can actually lower your IQ as much as 10% points.  I’m kind of wondering who has time these days to research that number.

Bring it on home – This is a real estate blog you might say, and what does all this have to do with real estate?  Well according to my findings, it is impossible with all of these distractions and interruptions in your lives for you to search for, find, negotiate and purchase a new home without the services of a REALTOR®.  When you can’t even get your work done because you are being interrupted every 10 minutes by a beeping phone that alerts you to an 8.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chile or that CNN still has not found any sign of the missing jetliner in the Indian Ocean.  When it is impossible to go to the movies without using a cell phone to antagonize a fellow movie goer to the point of gun violence; yep I saw it online.  When you can’t even go on a full time date and focus for a few hours on the one person who you might want to share those potential mortgage expenses with.  How do you think you would ever be able to find the time in this totally cluttered world in which we live to find the right house, and pay the right price, and get the best mortgage rate, and find a quality home inspector, and obtain all the pertinent disclosure forms, not to mention get some title insurance; whatever that is.  Yep, if it was me and I was you I would hire someone with the time and the knowledge to make I sure get this one right.  Hire a REALTOR® like me today.  And the best part is you can usually get somebody else to pay them for you.  It’s true - Google it.