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I suffer from something called Do-Everything-At-Once Syndrome. It’s a psychological condition that leads to Micromanagementitis and Equivocator’s Disease. I find myself attempting to do many things like write, watch TV, make dinner, do my taxes, and read a book all at the same time. This causes psychological tention and instead of doing one thing well, I do a number of things poorly.
Micromanagementitis is a control disease. To gain a sense of control, the sufferer needs to deal with every single detail at once. It causes paranoia about little mistakes and despair because those little mistakes keep appearing. A micromanager has to have their hands in every cookie jar and make sure everything is going their way.
A sufferer of Equivocator’s Disease can’t make decisions quickly. Their mind is consumed by so many things at once that their mind looses focus and can’t decide on a course of action. They want to take every single variable into account in order to make the outcome perfect. They question their own decisions, and suffer from inaction.
It’s a psychological fact that the human mind can only focus on one thing at a time. You can only focus on particular task requiring a focused mind at a time. Certainly anyone can walk and chew gum at the same time, and anyone can learn to pat their head and rub their stomach at the same time. You can even learn to fight without thinking and (unfortunately) there are people who drive without thinking. These are physical actions that, once learned, can be taken over by your muscles.
Any actions that requires consistent cognition, like reading, writing, math, art, or negotiation, can only be handled one at a time. Even physical actions like dribbling a basketball require the mind’s concentration until the muscles learn the action and can take over for the mind. But the muscles can only handle repetitive physical actions.
The only treatment for Do-Everything-At-Once Syndrome is to relax, loosen up, and take things one at a time. It’s diffcult to do because it means giving up control. And a desire for control is always a product of pride, one of the most diffcult human attributes to identify and weed out. You let go of Micromanagementitis by giving up control to other people. Trust them and they will trust you and work for you. You let go of Equivocator’s Disease by giving up control to God. He loves you and has your back. Even if something catastrophic happens, you can die knowing everything is okay with your soul. Christ didn’t die for nothing.