NSA Wisconsin: Your Source for Professional Speakers

Why Multi-tasking is Costing You Time and Quality

These days, many people like to brag about how good they are at multi-tasking. Indeed, it seems like being a good multi-tasker is a prerequisite for survival in today's fast-paced, high tech world.

Not so fast.

According to Joanne Cantor, NSA-WI member and the director of UW-Madison's Center for Communication Research, you really can't multi-task.

"The brain can't multi-task," she says. "People technically can't do, or focus on two things at once and the more you try, the worse off you are. You think you're multi-tasking, but your brain is just switching back and forth - rapidly often, but every time that your brain switches back and forth, you lose time and you lose quality."

Joanne's quote comes from a recent feature story on WISN TV about the misconceptions of multi-tasking. The author of Cyber Overload: Get More Done, Boost Your Creativity, and Reduce Stress, Joanne doesn't advise giving up all of your gadgets, but did share several tips for being more efficient in using them, including:

• Schedule your interruptions. If you're doing something else, set the cell phone aside. Check your e-mail only every 15 or 20 minutes instead of constantly being on call.
• Step away. Get up from the computer occasionally and walk around, and don't go to other information sources. Give your brain time to sort through and store what you've learned.
• Alternate your focus. Instead of trying to multi-task and do two or three things at once, focus on one thing for a period of time, and then another.

You can watch the entire eye-opening and informative segment on www.wisn.com.

NSA-WI Member Featured on Wisconsin Public Radio

NSA-WI Member Ralph Heath was featured on Wisconsin Public Radio by Joy Cardin for his new book Celebrating Failure: The Power of Taking Risks, Making Mistakes, and Thinking Big. Ralph's depth of business knowledge and witty conversation made for a truly enjoyable hour. 

A highlight of the show was when some former employees called-in to the program to praise Ralph's innovative approach to managing and leading employees. You can listen to the whole thing here.

His book will be a featured in the October 8th issue of Time Magazine. Excellent job by Ralph!

InBusiness Magazine Interviews Robert Ian About Gold and the Economy

Madison's InBusiness Magazine interviewed Robert Ian about gold and the economy for their annual Executive Register issue. Here's an excerpt:

Ian said gold cannot accurately be measured or predicted by the Consumer Price Index. In his view, the CPI is "bogus" because its measurements have been revised over the last several decades. In 1995, the gold price was about $400 per ounce and the money supply was about $4 trillion. Today, the money supply is about $17 trillion and climbing. This should put the price of gold at around $1,700 per ounce, he said.

However, the government's unfunded liabilities and debts, which is money that will have to be created to pay the obligations, are almost $100 trillion. Said Ian: "I think it puts the future price of gold at over $10,000 an ounce, assuming that they stop printing money today, which I don't think they will do. I think we are on the road to hyperinflation. I think it will appear this year, and there are a lot of supporting reasons for that."

Read the entire interview here.

Read Kinza's Article in Wisconsin Meetings Magazine

Highlighting ideas to maximize the effective of your next event, Midwest Meetings Magazine has published Kinza's article title "Well-rounded Meetings" in their Spring-Summer issue. The article includes six key points to remember in providing "the experience" and maximum value on a tight budget.

White Coat Wisdom Nominated for National Montaigne Medal

White Coat Wisdom, by Stephen J. Busalacchi, is among twenty finalists nationally for the Eric Hoffer Award’s Montaigne Medal.

 

"Each year, the Eric Hoffer Award for books presents the Montaigne Medal to the most thought-provoking title(s). These are books that either illuminate, progress, or redirect thought. The Montaigne Medal is given in honor of the great French philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who influenced people such as William Shakespeare, René Descartes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Eric Hoffer."

 

Stephen J. Busalacchi has more than 25 years of experience in medical journalism. He has reported for National Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Radio, and has received more than two dozen journalism awards, in addition to public relations awards.

 

“Doctors' lives are always interesting, especially when the reader is allowed behind the curtain. White Coat Wisdom is a good read for anyone, but of course, of special interest to the growing number involved in health and medicine."—C. Everett Koop, MD, U.S.Surgeon General, 1981-1989.

See www.whitecoatwisdom.com for more information.