During the pandemic, like many, I find myself working remotely at home. Despite the fantastic convenience of a 30-second commute from my bedroom to the dining room table where I leave my laptop, the constant temptation of eating cereal while watching YouTube has noticeably zapped my productivity.

Indeed, the concentration-drain of my tendency to multitask is anything but helpful to my paycheck. And although I reference hunky and photogenic stockphotos in my SNS posts:

The reality is anything but. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of investing in this robotic third arm developed by Japanese scientists.

That way I will no longer struggle grabbing beverages all those times I have to balance a plastic ball on a board. Working for grape Japan is weird...

Endless distractions

And I'm not the only person to experience these issues. Recently, manga artist Motoshi Kohara (@kohara_motoshi) released a short manga spotlighting the difficulties of avoiding distractions while working.

Reproduced with permission from Motoshi Kohara (@kohara_motoshi)

Indeed, it’s hard to get much done. Motoshi commented:

“I can’t concentrate on more than one thing at a time.”

Clearly, he is not alone. The illustrator's followers responded:

  • “I’m also no good at doing several things at once, so I try to focus on one thing at a time.”
  • “I thought I was the only that had this problem when multitasking. I’m relieved to learn I’m not alone. ”
  • “In my case, when I draw while chewing game I eventually forget all about the gum. Multitasking sure is hard.”

If you can relate to this manga, you can find more like it on Motoshi’s Twitter page. Enjoy!


By - Luke Mahoney.