Wandering mind

I'm not good at concentrating. At the best of times my concentration is probably about 75 per cent of what it should be. My attention wanders constantly as I'm easily distracted.

Whether it's TV, the media, books, or when I'm talking to other people, I'm just not focusing 100 per cent. Which means there are all sorts of details I don't take in, and consequently a lot of details I don't remember.

I daresay a psychologist might diagnose me with ADHD, but most of the relevant symptoms are ones I don't experience. Like excessive talking, acting without thinking, and interrupting conversations.

I don't think it's an age thing. My concentration wasn't any better when I was young. I would easily get the wrong end of the stick because some important detail had escaped me.

I must say my poor concentration has seldom been a hindrance. It hasn't stopped me having a great life. It hasn't stopped me doing demanding jobs. I just have to make allowances for it (and envy those whose concentration is a lot better).

It can be a problem with TV dramas, where Jenny keeps reminding me of crucial details I've somehow missed. "Don't you remember, she's the one who discovered the body in the first episode?"

Somehow I doubt I could radically improve my concentration, even with special mental exercises. It would take a miraculous overhaul of my brain to achieve gimlet-like concentration.

Of course I'm not alone. Plenty of people have poor concentration, as I repeatedly discover when some politician blatantly misconstrues a document they've just read because they haven't read it properly.

I wonder how many crime dramas I've unwittingly misconstrued?

Glorious botching

There hasn't been much talk of multi-tasking recently. Which is odd, because supposedly the reason why some people could juggle so many different roles was because they could do six things at once and do them all brilliantly - or at any rate competently.

Well, that was the theory. Then researchers discovered that most people can't multi-task, or at least not effectively. You might think you're doing everything splendidly but in reality you're just muddling through.

I have to say I'm probably the world's worst multi-tasker. Give me two things to do at once and I'll botch both of them - gloriously. Expect me to have an intelligent conversation while I'm driving the car and without doubt I'll drive straight into the closest shopfront.

Expect me to answer the phone while I'm picking out items at the supermarket and you can be sure I'll forget who I'm talking to while simultaneously knocking fifty tins of baked beans off the nearest shelf. Which in itself is a deft piece of multi-tasking - but not the one intended.

I'm afflicted with absolutely single-minded concentration. I can focus superbly on one particular thing -  to a degree that sometimes drives Jenny nuts. But if you ask me to spread my concentration a bit more widely, you're on to a loser. Something's got to give, and invariably it does. I catch sight of a fascinating article in the paper, settle down to read it, and instantly forget there's something in the oven.

The cliché has it that women are better at multi-tasking than men, but I'm not sure that's true. I think some people just happen to be better at it than others, whatever their sex. If such a thing really exists, that is.

Tell you what though - I can be obsequiously polite to someone while at the same time marvelling at their infinite stupidity. Does that count as multi-tasking?

One track mind

I'm absurdly unmasculine most of the time, but in one way I'm typically male. I'm complete shite at multi-tasking.

Give me two things to do at the same time and I'm guaranteed to mess them both up. Cook a meal and read the paper? You can be sure I'll end up burning the pasta and not taking in anything I'm reading. If I try to split my mind between two things, each half seizes up and confusion sets in.

Jenny however is typically female here and can multi-task easily. She'll do the ironing, listen to the radio, plan an academic article and check her emails - and do it all competently. She switches from one to the other effortlessly, somehow keeping everything in focus.

That's all very well, says the average bloke, but attending to one thing at a time just has to produce better results than spreading your brain all over the shop. How can you possibly do four things at once and do them all properly?

It's galling to admit, but actually women probably do do all four things properly. Homing in on one thing doesn't necessarily pay. You can get stuck in a mental rut, going round and round in circles. Whereas hopping between different things keeps the brain flexible and stimulated, keeps the creative juices circulating.

But I'm hopeless at it. I can't even have a conversation and do something else at the same time. If I don't concentrate totally on what I'm saying, the words stop flowing, I get confused, and I end up stuttering like a lunatic.

Jenny knows not to talk too much when I'm driving in case my attention wanders and the next thing you know I'll be hurtling through red traffic lights, knocking down innocent old ladies and skidding into shop windows.

I suspect it's not a natural male trait, it's the way I was brought up. Multi-tasking was simply not expected of me because "boys just can't do it, can they?" So surprise surprise, I became as incapable as they assumed. And a one-track mind is the consequence.