If you’ve never watched Parks and Recreation, let me tell you that you’re missing out on a major treat and should definitely put it on your watch list. Parks and Rec is a documentary style, political comedy about a group of local government employees (within the parks and recreation department) in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Some of the major characters in the show are Leslie Knope, a passionate and strong-minded woman who is determined to make Pawnee a better place, and Ron Swanson, a simple, straight-to-the-point libertarian who could care less for the government, yet is the director of the Parks and Rec department. Ron is one of my favorite characters because, 1. It’s impossible not to laugh with him, 2. Throughout the show he actually provides great, useful advice to basically everyone, and 3. His quotes are the best.

In episode 16 of season 4 (Sweet Sixteen), Leslie is trying to manage her campaign for city council while also handling her deputy director job in the Parks department. Ron keeps insisting that she take a leave of absence and focus on one thing at a time, but determined Leslie refuses to do so. Why am I writing about this? Well, because if I had a quarter for every time a job seeker said “I’m great at multitasking,” or every time an employer stated “We need a candidate with the ability to multitask,” I probably could have paid off my house by now. Episode 16 of Parks and Rec can teach all of us an often overlooked truth: multitasking isn’t all it’s cracked up to be; it’s actually not the “greatest” skill of all.

1. Leslie had super powers. Which were fake.
   
   Leslie believes she can do it all. And, frankly, she’s usually very good at accomplishing what she wants. Nonetheless, during this episode, where she attempts to use her “I-am-Leslie-Knope” multitasking powers, she fails to see how they aren’t working when things begin to fall apart. As Ron begins to take notice, he immediately advises her to “take a sabbatical.” When Leslie ignores his advice, Ron decides to keep an eye on her while being amused by her mishaps, waiting for her to figure out on her own that she’s overworked.

   Like Leslie, most of us who pride ourselves on being great at multitasking believe that we can do it all. However, research shows that our productivity actually goes down by as much as 40%, and we get a lot less done. So, if you’re like Leslie and have tricked yourself into thinking you’re Superman or Superwoman, this serves to show that you should probably just listen to Ron Swanson.

2. Leslie was in control. Of nothing; she was in control of nothing.
   .
   Leslie was so used to tackling a million things at once that this was a no biggie for her. She had been multitasking for so long that she was great at it, and had everything under control – except, she didn’t. While Leslie tries to manage her job and her campaign at the same time, she eventually loses control of her situations and mentally crashes (she ends up falling asleep during the surprise party that she was throwing for her coworker, Jerry). 
   
   The reality is that we don’t actually multitask, we just switch from one task to another – some can just do this quicker than others. When this happens, we become less competent in what we are trying to achieve – and the more we do it the worse it gets. “Practice makes perfect” doesn’t actually work in this case, no matter how badly we want to believe that it does. If you find yourself losing control while trying to do it all, then you should probably listen to Ron Swanson.
   .
3. Leslie dropped the ball. More than once. More than twice.
   .
   In the episode of “Sweet Sixteen,” Leslie made mistakes. A lot of them. For example, Leslie is always very caring about her coworkers, and never misses their birthdays. But, this time she forgets Jerry’s birthday and attempts to throw him a belated “sweet 16” party (he’s 64, but his birthday is on February 29th so she reasons that he’s only had 16 actual birthdays). She then forgets to invite Jerry. She also forgets to pick up the cake. In the meantime, she realizes that they’ve also messed up her campaign signs, so she rushes back to the printer to have them fixed, and then replaces every single sign in Pawnee herself. They finally make it to the party sometime in the middle of the night, waking everyone up, and she then falls asleep on the couch, on top of Jerry. 
   
   What happened to Leslie is far from unusual; we actually suffer a fall in IQ when we become distracted by multiple things (which can be the same impact as losing a night of sleep). As it often seems to happen with most of us, while Leslie is usually on top of her game, everything came crashing down when she attempted to do it all – she should have just listened to Ron in the first place.

Listen To Ron Swanson

The next morning, Ron takes Leslie out by the lake and has a talk with her, finally convincing her to take a leave of absence. It was this sole moment in the entire episode that made me want to write about it, and it is one my favorite Ron Swanson quotes as of yet (depending on what else he says – I’ve recently discovered this show, so I’m a little behind). Like many of Ron Swanson’s quotes, what he said to her was simple, to the point, and had a sense of eloquence. The reality is that when we give our attention and focus to one thing at a time, the results are usually ten times better than what they would be otherwise. So, the next time you’re in a multitasking nightmare, you should just take a deep breath, and listen to Ron Swanson: “Never half-butt two things. Whole-butt one thing.” Of course, his actual quote is slightly jazzier than how I put it:

For some of Ron’s funniest quotes, go here. And to tap into some Ron Swanson wisdom, check this out.

By Nayadee Wilson