Are Really You Effective At Multi-tasking?

I think this is probably the ultimate in multi-tasking.  What do you do when snow and leaves cover the ground at the same time?  Which job do you try to tackle first: raking the leaves or shoveling the snow?  Maybe you do both simultaneously? Is it possible to clear the snow off and then pile up the remaining leaves?

It is probably easy to look back now and say, "Wow that was kind of crazy.  I've never had to deal with so many leaves and nearly a foot of snow at the same time!"  During the storm, however, I'm sure you did not think the situation was so amusing.  You were probably not thinking about the irony, but rather, removing the mess that seemed to overtake your yard; or how you desperately wanted electricity back to warm your house and prevent the food from spoiling in your fridge.  A few days removed, I am able to look at things in a different way...how effective can you really be when multi-tasking?

There are usually two clear sides to this argument: those that feel multi-tasking is not only possible, but something at which they excel; and those that feel it is useless.  Women swear they were born multi-taskers, while men can't even consider working on two things at once.  I have to admit, I'm not the best at doing two things at once.  My most successful attempt is reading e-mails while I eat breakfast, but that's pretty much it.  Even though I may have several programs/projects open on my computer during the day, I'm not effectively working on each of them simultaneously.  I usually have to complete one, clear my head, then move on to the next.

Honestly, how much focus can you give to one project/task if you are thinking about another one at the same time?

Isn't it difficult to concentrate on writing a report (or in my case editing) if you constantly check your e-mails to see if anything new arrived?

Won't you eventually get things confused, and put the wrong name or price on a document?

While snow piled on top of leaves is not as serious as work issues, you have to admit, a snowstorm in the middle of Fall does give new meaning to the term "multi-tasking"!

That's the Golden Perspective...what's yours?