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Multitasking is a Lie
Get more done when you focus on just one thing
Multitasking is a lie. There, I said it.
It drives me crazy when people boastfully describe themselves as a “multitasker”. It’s as if they think their brain is too powerful to only do one thing at a time. They’re bored if they’re just reading a book. They also need to be watching a movie, tweeting about it, and checking what the weather will be like next Wednesday.
Please don’t be one of these people. Just focus on reading this article and this article alone for a few minutes to understand what I mean.
Multitasking Isn’t a Real Thing
I’m not the first one to think of this. There has been growing research that examines exactly how our brain processes multiple thoughts or activities at the same time. A study conducted at Stanford concluded that media multitaskers were far more easily distracted than those who just paid attention to one task at a time. These subjects felt that they were getting more done, but in reality, they were just jumping around and getting distracted.
You likely have felt this in your own life. There must have been a time where you were trying to do multiple things at once and really felt the distraction. A prime example would be that person who is sending text messages while half-watching TV and maybe even carrying on a light conversation with someone in person. Lo and behold, they end up texting someone named Joan when they were trying to text Joann. They just weren’t giving enough attention to the act of texting.
Of course, this is just one silly example. But what if you are in a constant state of multitasking throughout your workday. That mistaken text message could turn into something more impactful like an oversight in revenue or a typo in an important client-facing document. There are just too many opportunities to slip up when you aren’t giving a task your full attention.
Monotasking Just Works
So what is our alternative? Are we forced to just slowly move from one task to another like some sort of modern-day troglodyte? Focusing on just one thing doesn’t mean it has to happen slowly. In fact, you’ll find that more tasks come off your to-do list…
