I multitask way too much and it causes me some stress:
When I eat breakfast, I read stuff on an iPad (usually the newspaper, or just my email). I prepare my breakfast in the kitchen and then eat it at the table, so I don't need two hands to eat my slice of bread.
When I sit in front of the TV and there is something not so interesting on TV (for example DH wants to watch sports), I read and write stuff on an iPad (usually this forum). When there is something I want to watch, I put the iPad away. But if DH then watches his iPad instead of the TV, he often shows he things that are funny/amazing/interesting and makes me multitask again.
When I read something on facebook, facebook constantly pops up small dialogues with people who respond to what I just wrote. And other pop ups with people who liked what I just wrote. That is constantly disturbing. I do find facebook useful for gaining contacts and information for my hobby. So I am not ready yet to ditch it.
When cooking, I am cleaning up vegetable cuts and meat boxes and filling up the shopping list with things that are empty. I also often end up being a bit too ambitious and cooking 5 pans at the same time, making up plans of what to cook on the go. When my DH cooks, he just leaves the vegetable cuts on the counter to clean up afterwards.
Plan:
I think the first thing, cutting out reading while eating, should be easy to implement. I can try to eat more mindfully. Just finish it all before opening the iPad to read the news/email. Or just not open it at all.
Also leaving the garbage on the kitchen counter while cutting/cooking should be doable, even though it is a bit against my ingrained tidying up habit.
I am not sure about how to solve the 5 pan cooking problem though. It always ends up like that, because we have pretty high standards for making tasteful food (DH is quite critical for food). And I feel the need of making every meal complete, with some starch, some essential proteins and lots of veggies. Stirring 5 pans at the same time, while having something else in the oven that can burn, is a bit stressful. I normally have no meal plan and just improvise something from the ingredients that I find in the fridge, combined with the portion of meat/fish that is unfrozen (that I got out of the freezer the night before. By the way, DH and I cook on average every other day, with the ingredients we have, both improvising the meals. So making a meal plan for the rest of the week for my half is a bit difficult. Although I am also the one who does the food shopping, usually twice a week. I prefer to buy what looks fresh/attractive/cheap, rather than following a plan.
Any advice?