Simultaneously seven, unrelated.

In ancient Rome, gladiator fights were not just entertainment, they carried an important religious message. In fact, they were sacrifices to the gods. Therefore, those who did not go to fights were looked rather askance - approximately as in Russia they look askance at those who do not drink vodka :) Gaius Julius Caesar was just one of those who were not interested in gladiator fights. It is unlikely that he could not stand the sight of blood, but rather because after all the wars he had fought, gladiator fights looked the same as backyard football after the World Cup. However, as a "life consul" he was forced to attend the battles. Populism in those years was much cooler than it is now :) In order not to waste time, Caesar in his box dealt with correspondence.) So, when one of the close people reproached Caesar - how can he watch battles and write letters at the same time? - Gaius Julius invariably answered, without taking his eyes off the letter, that “Caesar can do not only two, but even three things at the same time - and watch battles, and write letters, and talk. "

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Gaius Julius Caesar - Ancient Roman statesman and politician, dictator, commander, writer. Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Subura, a suburb of Rome, located near the Forum, in a patrician family from the Julius family, which played a significant role in the history of Rome from ancient times. Before Caesar, the Julius family, despite their aristocratic origin, was not rich by the standards of the Roman nobility of that time. That is why, until Caesar himself, almost none of his relatives achieved much influence. After the death of Sulla, Caesar returned to Rome and joined the political struggle. Caesar lost both trials, but despite this, he gained fame as one of the best orators of Rome. In 65 BC, according to some conflicting accounts of his contemporaries, Caesar is involved in an unsuccessful plot to seize power. In 62 BC Julius Caesar sends a praetor. Caesar's Gallic proconsulship was a direct continuation of his activities in the previous 7-8 years, aimed at obtaining under his command a large military force that could allow him to claim power and, if necessary, balance the military influence of Pompey. The brilliant results of the first expeditions enormously raised Caesar's prestige in Rome; Gallic money maintained this prestige no less successfully. Senate opposition against the triumvirate, however, did not doze off, and Pompey in Rome experienced a number of unpleasant moments. For a long time of his political activity, Julius Caesar quite definitely realized to himself that one of the main evils that cause a serious illness in the Roman political system is the instability, impotence and purely urban character of the executive power, the selfish, narrow party and class nature of the power of the senate. From the first moments of his career, he openly and definitely struggled with both. The guiding idea of ​​Caesar's foreign policy was the creation of a strong and integral state with natural, if possible, borders. Caesar pursued this idea in the north, and in the south, and in the east. In all of Caesar's reforming activities, two main ideas are clearly noted. One is the need to unite the Roman state into one whole, the need to smooth out the difference between the citizen-owner and the provincial slave, to smooth out the strife of nationalities; the other, closely related to the first, is the streamlining of the administration, close communication between the state and its subjects, the elimination of intermediaries, and a strong central authority. Caesar was killed on March 15, 44 BC. at a meeting of the Senate. When friends once advised the dictator to beware of enemies and surround himself with guards, Caesar replied: “It is better to die once than to constantly expect death.” A broad education, grammatical and literary, gave Caesar the opportunity, like most educated people of that time, to be active not only in politics, but also in literature. The literary activity of Caesar in his mature years was, however, for him not a goal, but a means of a purely political nature. According to the unanimous testimony of all ancient authors, Caesar was distinguished by sexual promiscuity: “he was the lover of many
military women, "including the wives of their comrades in the triumvirate - Tertulla, the wife of Crassus, and Mutsia, the wife of Pompey; they also claimed about his connection with the wife of his ally, the king of Mauritania, Bogud, Evnoia. Caesar was especially fond of Servilia, the sister of Cato the Younger and the mother of Brutus, which gave rise to the legend that Brutus was Caesar's own son (although Brutus was only 17-19 years younger than Caesar, the peak of the affair with Servilia falls on the end of the 60s). years, when Brutus was already entering adulthood.The personality of Caesar has always attracted the attention of researchers of ancient history, but assessments of his activities were different.The founder of one of the first scientific schools of studying Roman history, Barthold Niebuhr, reservedly assessed the activities of the dictator.In 1724, on behalf of Peter I F. Anokhin translated into Russian four books of Notes, but the translation was not published and was lost.

Caesar- one of the titles of the rulers of the Roman Empire. Descended from the cognomen of the Julius clan "Caesar", the bearer of which was a politician and commander of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. BC. Gaius Julius Caesar. Gaius Julius Caesar was killed in 44 BC. In the III-IV centuries, the title "Caesar" was inextricably linked with the idea of ​​co-government, when the senior ruler, who was assigned the title "August", shared power with the junior co-ruler - "Caesar".

Greatest generals: Gaius Julius Caesar

Multitasking comes into our lives when a lot of things fall on us. Everyone does this - children eat and watch TV (or play on the iPad) at the same time, adults walk around the city at the same time and look at something on their smartphone. We pride ourselves on our ability to multitask, because that way we add more value to employers and households. But it's not right!

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Think back to your last multitasking job and answer the question, “Did I actually do more with the same quality”? That's it.

Our love of getting everything done in one time slot shows that we strive to be productive. But multitasking is definitely not the best way to do it.

But here we have a very serious enemy - our brain. When we do several routine, boring operations at once, he rewards us with the release of the "hormone of joy" dopamine. It causes very pleasant sensations, and we want to experience them again and again. This is why multitasking is so hard to get rid of. And it would be worth it.

More doesn't mean better

Why? After all, each of us knows from childhood that the more things you do at the same time, the better. But scientific research refutes this notion. Scientists are sure that our brain is simply not designed to focus on several things at the same time.

In other words, if you have to focus on two things at once right now, you will never be able to fully control both. All your brain can do in such a situation is switch between objects very quickly and give you the illusion that you are 100% both there and there.

In this mode of operation, you cannot be as efficient as when performing only one task. As a result, mistakes (because the brain must focus again after switching to the next task, and this does not happen immediately) and a feeling of stress due to the fact that you constantly need to switch between tasks. Memory suffers - and, of course, the quality of work. Yes, you can get more done by the end of the day thanks to multitasking. But what about quality? Have you had time to properly think about what you are doing?

If you want to work well, then you should give up multitasking in favor of working on only one task at a time.

Single-tasking produces better results

Research shows that working on only one task improves the ability to control attention, memory and reduces stress- after all, in "single-taskers" the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for concentration of attention, decision making, forecasting, emotions, will, mental activity in general and behavior, better controls the more ancient limbic system of the brain (responsible for the basic autonomic and somatic reactions that we cannot control).

How to become a "single-tasker"?

Here are some simple tips:

  • Turn off unnecessary ones!
  • Open only one tab in your browser. How often do you open 15-20 tabs at a time? Everyone does this – and it’s completely in vain, because in the futile pursuit of multitasking we lose concentration, and therefore we do our work worse than we could. So remember - only one tab, and only one task.
  • Start small. If you switch to "single-tasking" abruptly, your brain will get scared - and may well bury a good undertaking. Don't rush, take it step by step. Eat in silence today, without TV or PC. Tomorrow, when you come to the cafe, turn off your phone. Fight multitasking at this pace and you will quickly notice that your life has become more meaningful.
  • Set your priorities. We all have hundreds if not thousands of things that deserve our attention. But let's be realistic. It is better to single out the main ones from among them and do them well than to do everything at once in a hurry on the principle of "it will do."

Canadian psychologists have studied the process by which the human brain solves two problems at the same time. And they found out that in fact the brain switches very quickly from one task to another, and does not solve them in parallel. At the same time, the speed of such switching can be increased by training.

The researchers used a tomograph to monitor brain activity and determined that the prefrontal cortex plays a key role in putting two things together at once. It cannot provide truly parallel actions, but it can sequentially solve two different tasks.

What they were doing?

A group of seven subjects were asked to solve two problems. In the first, by pressing one of the two buttons, it was necessary to sort the images that appeared on the screen. In the second, it was already necessary to sort the sounds - and not by pressing the button, but by saying the answer aloud.

Even at the beginning of the experiment, psychologists saw a natural picture. Individually, the subjects coped with any of the tasks quite quickly, but an attempt to solve both of them simultaneously led to a sharp deterioration in the results. Training for two weeks in solving both problems simultaneously significantly increased not only the speed of solving each problem separately, but also their simultaneous execution. Although, as further analysis of the results of the experiment showed, the brain could not become truly multitasking.

How exactly?

The fact that with the help of training it is possible to speed up the solution of two parallel tasks is in itself not a new fact, and therefore, from a scientific point of view, of little interest. Scientists were interested not only in the ability to learn how to solve several different tasks at the same time, but also in how the brain changes in the process of such training.

Scientists have suggested that multitasking can be achieved in several ways. For example, in the process of learning a certain task, the brain can switch from the prefrontal cortex to other structures: in this case, the subjects would do the sorting of pictures or sounds automatically, without conscious participation. A similar effect can be achieved by allocating separate groups of cells for the task, which are not occupied with anything else: a section of the cerebral cortex would be responsible for its task.

However, most of the possible explanations were recognized by scientists as untenable in the course of processing the results of the experiment. Multitasking actually turned out to be associated not with the emergence of separate specialized areas, but with the acceleration of the prefrontal cortex.

Is it possible to multitask?

The researchers, who described their experiment in the journal Neuron, were able to show that when the brain is doing two tasks at the same time, it constantly switches from one to the other. These switchings require a certain time, which can be reduced by training - however, not to an arbitrarily small amount. In addition, the success of training largely depends on the complexity of the task. Rene Marois, one of the researchers, noted that tasks that require complex logical operations are solved by parts of the brain that are not involved in solving simple tasks.

Finding out exactly how the human brain adapts to perform several tasks at once is important not only for understanding the principles of the brain as a whole. A driver talking on a cell phone or a machine operator who is distracted by a question finds himself in a similar situation. And air traffic controllers do have to constantly solve several problems at once, and a mistake can lead to disaster. If psychologists learn how the brain copes with such situations, it will be possible to develop recommendations for the risk group.

Taking on several things at once is risky, but quite real. And the ability not to lose sight of several aspects at once helps to dramatically save time, and such a grouping of activities develops attentiveness. Therefore, it is useful to train in the “chasing two hares” business from time to time, the main thing is not to abuse it and soberly assess your capabilities.

think and do

The simplest exercise to develop the ability to do several things at once can be conditionally called "think and do." The essence of the exercise is to load the brain not only with this work itself, but also with other thoughts during the performance of any physical work. You can, for example, remember the multiplication table or your favorite poem. Washing dishes and reading poetry, for example, is not so difficult.

When a simple reading of poetry and solving simple mathematical examples in the mind will be obtained, the task should be complicated for the brain. Along with cleaning, which is often done automatically, try to think through plans for tomorrow, look for ways to solve pressing problems, or calculate the expenses for the last month. Such an interweaving of physical work with extraneous thoughts, by the way, helps to quickly cope with routine tasks, and the time for their implementation flies noticeably faster.

think, do, remember

Three things at the same time is also easy to do. So, while a cake is being baked in the kitchen, you can check your email or repair the faucet in the bathroom. And, besides, in parallel, no one forbids mentally calculating the cost of the next repair in the apartment.

The difficulty of the lesson is not to forget about the pie. It turns out that in addition to immersing yourself in thoughts, monitoring the oven and fixing the tap, you will also have to control your internal timer so that the cake does not burn. At first, it is better to start an alarm clock, the sound of which will remind you of the pie. Over time, after 1-2 months of training, it will be quite easy to cope with three or even four things at the same time.

The most difficult thing for the followers of Caesar, who, as you know, could easily do a dozen things at the same time, keep all the cases in memory and not lose sight of anything. To do this, you need to train your memory, which is facilitated by memorizing poetry, reading books and playing musical instruments. Creative people, by the way, get used to saving time more easily by doing various things in parallel.

How to do several things at the same time? Surely this question is of interest, first of all, to those people who often do not have time to do everything necessary, both at work and personally. To give an answer, we need to delve into a science called, that is, the art of time management.

Probably many people know a man who did several things at the same time - Julius Caesar. Largely due to this quality, he was remembered and went down in history.

Is it possible to repeat his abilities and how to do many things at the same time - more on that later.

First of all, and this is very important, you need to be able to divide all the things that you do into 2 categories:

1. Active actions- these are actions that require concentration of attention and mental effort (for example, writing an article, negotiating with a client, compiling a report, etc.).

2. Passive actions- these are actions that are performed automatically, do not require concentration of attention and mental effort (for example, the road to work, standing in line, eating, etc.).

It is also important to understand that for different people and in different situations, the same actions can be both active and passive. For example, for a novice motorist or in a large stream of cars, driving is an active action, and for an experienced motorist and on a free country road, it is passive.

So, if you are thinking about how to do several things at the same time, because you do not have enough time, you need to start with the fact that in parallel with passive things, it is imperative to perform active ones.

Each person daily performs a certain number of passive actions that cannot be avoided in any way, which will have to be performed in any case. If you have to take some passive action, think about what active things you can do with it in parallel.

The simplest option that many use is to make the necessary phone calls while walking down the street (passive action) (active action). A mobile phone, and many other modern technologies, is generally a very useful thing - with their help you can do several things at the same time in a variety of situations.

For example, again, while driving down the street or even in public transport, you can listen to useful audio books on your headphones - this will save you a lot of time, and even for your own benefit: firstly, you will learn useful lessons from the materials you listened to, secondly, you do not have to spend a significant amount of time to read these books. I confess that I myself walk a lot and actively use this method. These same useful audiobooks can be listened to in the car instead of useless radio or music.

If you perceive visual information better and are forced to passively spend some part of your time in public transport, you can use e-books for reading during this period. True, for this you will definitely need to sit comfortably, which is not always possible, but you can always listen to the necessary material with headphones, thereby doing two things at the same time.

With the help of headphones and a mobile device, you can not only “read” books, but also do other useful things at the same time as passive ones, for example, learn English or take personality development trainings using audio lessons. Agree, it will not be superfluous, and you will spend your time with benefit.

If you access the Internet from a mobile device, you can use this feature during passive travel in transport or waiting for important active things, such as checking mail and replying to important messages. I once read on one of the forums that a part-time student used the 2 hours a day spent on the train to write articles for sale using a laptop. That is, he actually made money during the inevitable and routine passive processes, doing two things at the same time. Well done! Take note…

You can do several things at the same time not only with the help of modern gadgets. The second, active thing can be just thought, mental processes. By performing a passive action, you can simultaneously make some plans, develop something in your mind, for example, tactics for holding an important business meeting. And, for example, when going to lunch during your lunch break, you can take a colleague with you and discuss some working moments at the meal so as not to waste working time on them.

Thus, it is possible and even necessary to do two things at the same time, competently combining passive and active actions. This will certainly give a good, useful result and significantly save your time, which is not enough.

However, if we are talking about combining one active action with another, that is, doing two things at the same time, each of which requires concentration of attention and mental effort, the effect is most likely to be completely opposite. Namely, the result of both these cases will suffer, none of them will be performed qualitatively, because. on none of them will you be able to concentrate properly.

Why is it so? The answer lies in the way the human brain works. When a person concentrates on performing one active action, both his hemispheres are involved in the work, and the brain performs its functions in the best possible way. If a person does two active actions at the same time, then the functions are divided between the two hemispheres: the right hemisphere processes the first action, and the left hemisphere processes the second. In this case, the result will depend on how developed the brain of a particular person is, but it will definitely be of lower quality than when performing one action. And if a person does several things at the same time (3 or more), then complete chaos begins in the brain, and thought processes cannot proceed properly in any of the tasks performed.

Thus, only a person with unique brain abilities (like, for example, Julius Caesar) can do several active things at the same time so that all of them are performed efficiently. It is physiologically impossible for a simple person.

To do this, while exercising, simply think over and write out a list of passive things that you need to do. Then think about what active things you can combine with these passive things, doing them at the same time, in parallel. Then it remains only to fulfill the planned plan, significantly saving time (and this, do not forget, is an irreplaceable human asset) and having time to do all the planned things.

Well, it’s better not to do several things in parallel, if each of them requires active mental activity - this will only make you feel worse, the overall result will suffer from this. Concentrate on only one active action, while, if possible, doing it in parallel with the passive one.

Now you know how to do several things at the same time, in which cases it is possible and makes sense. I hope that my advice will be useful to you and help you succeed in any business. Do not forget that there are other, equally important ones that can and should also be used in order to manage to do all the planned things.

See you soon at the site, which will become your guide on the path to success, improve your financial literacy and teach you how to use your personal finances as efficiently as possible.