The Clairvoyant Zoopraxiscope

As I get older, I find that multi-tasking becomes more and more of an assumed life and work skill. I don't know if I'm any good at it. I do a little of this thing, a little of that thing, then a little of t'other thing, then a little more of that thing, until finally, like planes, the projects (big things that they are) take off and eventually reach a cruising altitude.

Was life always like this? Was there a stage in social history where people were not doing more than one long-term thing at a time?