Since the day I met her, Mrs. Grumpus has insisted that men cannot multi-task effectively, unlike women. My typical Confucian-like retort used to be something along the lines of, “the woman who splits her attention among multiple tasks does none of them well”. These days though I believe I’ve harnessed my inner woman enough to master the art of listening to podcasts while doing other more menial tasks. Work and family demands mean time is too precious to let self-improvement opportunities slip by while commuting, cutting the lawn, gardening, cleaning the garage, driving the Grumpus Minimi (pronounced min-nee-my) to swim lessons, or listening to Mrs. Grumpus talk (just kidding honey!).
In fact not only do I double-up on tasks, I now triple-up by commuting on my bike with a pair of earbuds. For you math challenged out there: commuting, exercising, and listening are the three tasks.
I discovered the value of podcasts while stationed in Europe. I was cut off from my standard commuting radio selection of NPR, NPR, and more NPR.