Mindfulness in multi tasking?

Whilst attending a course on Buddhist Counselling I asked the lecturer a question. His answer caused a stir amongst the participants who thought the lecturer mistook my question.

We were on the subject of mindfulness and its role in psychological well being; which then led on to the discussion of mind drifting and multi-tasking as a hindrance to mindfulness. He gave the example of people not noticing anything at all during a long bus journey and unaware of how they arrive at their destination. I then asked him whether it is alright if at the outset of the bus journey I have decided to make use of the time in the bus to plan my schedule for the following day, hence I won't be taking in the scenes. He said it is OK and passed me the mike to repeat my question for the benefit of the whole class because this was an often asked question. Some of my classmates were taken aback by his ok-ing it and asked what if I missed alighting at my destination; how can that be considered as mindfulness. His reply was that if at the outset my intention was to do some planning then missing the destination is of secondary importance and can always be remedied by taking another bus. It is not the same as being lost in 101 thoughts. On the contrary it is carried out on purpose. To be mindful is to be aware of what is going on right now. As long as I am aware I am planning and not spacing out I am being mindful.

I can see not all the participants are convinced. To be honest I myself was surprised because very so often we have been told multi-tasking is a no no for mindfulness. Yet I am really glad because I can only tolerate household chores when I am listening to podcast at the same time, gathering new info and learning. An imperfect household task is of secondary importance. To the critiques amongst my classmates who think that I may miss my destinated bus stop, my answer is that I will consciously allocate certain time to focus on my planning ensuring there will be sufficient time to refocus on my bus journey well before my destination.

From a broader perspective the lecturer's answer holds a lot of wisdom. If we develop the habit to be mindful of the purpose behind every moment we can then often be more cognizant of the big purpose in our life eliminating the frustrations from unmet secondary 'wants'.