For instance, I always believed that
multi-tasking is the most effective way of getting a lot done, after all, women
are supposed to be great at multi-tasking, right? However, for me it didn’t just
extend to checking my Twitter feed in the elevator. In order to get my projects
done faster, I believed that I had to combine steps, to save time. When writing
a research report, halfway through I realised I needed to incorporate information
from some more sources. I identified a dozen new sources, and since it was
crunch time, I decided to simply start reading and adding in the information at
the same time. Needless to say, I was being slowed down by the fact that I had
to process what information was relevant, and where in my report it needed to
be added in, at the same time. I was making very slow progress and started to
panic that I wouldn’t make my deadline.
At this point, I had the idea to break down
the tasks into fewer steps - I first added the research I found that was
relevant into a new document, properly cited of course, and then I tried to
figure out where in my original report this could be included. Surprisingly,
adding in additional steps, instead of increasing the time I spent, actually
saved me precious time and I made my deadline. I found that, at least for me,
multi-tasking slowed me down so much as to be an ineffective strategy, and I was
far better off doing things one at a time.
--Reading Susan Cain’s book Quiet I came across a similar point, where she argues that introverts may feel pressure to conform to society’s expectations of behaviour, and forget their own strengths. She suggests that it would be better for them to “honor their own styles instead of allowing themselves to be swept up by prevailing norms”. As someone who prefers to spend time alone and reflect, you may be pressured to instead fight against that instinct, and be more social. Sure, we all need to attend some social functions, and broaden our horizons at times, but it’s important to acknowledge that it is draining, and keep those occasions to the minimum.
I found that I was being subtly pressured
to attend certain kinds of activities often, in the evenings, and I found the
timings and nature of the activities to be so draining, that I would come home
and over-indulge on junk foods and late-night TV in an attempt to get back my
equilibrium. Needless to say, that didn’t work, and just made me groggy in the
mornings, and helped to pile on the pounds. This year I have made it one of my
resolutions to think carefully about each social obligation, and only attend if
I absolutely have-to, keeping in mind that I need a lot of time to recharge
afterwards.
--Listening to your own tune of course has much larger implications as well. When faced with certain career trends or pressures to do one kind of work and not another, we may feel that we chose the wrong field, or that whatever work we are doing isn’t exciting or important enough. At one time it was all the rage to be a lawyer or a management consultant, hence the race to law and business schools. Now the trend is leaning towards app developers, and it seems lots of people are jumping on the coding bandwagon - with free online courses teaching code being the new must-do.
However, just because you aren’t a whiz at
Python or Ruby doesn’t make you unable to impact the world, it just means you
have to do it in your own unique way.
Cal Newport’s book So Good They Can't Ignore You, makes this point forcefully - you shouldn’t buy into the ‘follow your
passion’ mind-set, instead you should become really good at what you do.
I would take that one step further, and
state that you don’t need to worry whether you’re in the right field, or even
the best at your field. Instead, you need to worry about whether you’re trying
to make an impact, trying to create value, even in a small way, on a regular basis. This means, be more
of yourself, honour your own unique strengths, and use them to give back to the
world around you. This is part of the argument made by Seth Godin in his book Linchpin. I found it very reassuring, as
lately I had started to fall into the trap of thinking that I made mistakes in
the path I chose, I should have studied something different, honed different
skills. The point is not what you could or should have done, the point is to
make the most of who you are in the present. What are your unique skills and
abilities today that you can use in your whole life, not just at home or at
work? What do you uniquely bring to the table that can change someone’s life,
make someone’s day? I believe that dancing to your own tune doesn’t mean that
you should isolate yourself from others, in fact, by being more of yourself,
you can give more of yourself to the world. 
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