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Recently I walked into the kitchen to ask my husband, John, a question. “I can’t talk now,” he said. “I’m peeling carrots.” Huh? Wouldn’t someone who was peeling carrots want to have a conversation to make the task a less tedious? But the truth is that John, a teacher and academic, can do only one thing at a time – ­ though he does that brilliantly. We women, on the other hand, are always bragging about how great we are at multitasking. And we truly are! But sometimes our amazing multitasking skills can get us into trouble. Two weeks ago, I was sitting at my computer entering heath insurance information for my daughter on her college website. At least I was doing this with one-eighth of my mind. The other seven-eighths was engaged in a fantasy about moving to the English countryside, debating about whether to inoculate our oak trees for bacterial leaf scorch, and wondering if we could afford … Read on