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Does multitasking get the job done?
I have become a Serial Multitasker. I jump from blog to bills, to email, to Social Media to choosing recipes for dinner, but never quite feel satisfied that I have done them justice. I don’t actually multitask, I move sideways from task to task, wondering what forgotten details will reappear and need to be revisited. My mind feels like a ping-pong ball when I’m in high gear, and to be honest, it doesn’t feel very good. It also doesn’t make me feel smart or in control.
I much prefer to focus on one thing at a time, as I did when I was a student, and complete an assignment before moving on to the next. But real life seems to require multitasking when you include family, friends, and managing a complex lifestyle that comes with being a business owner, frequent traveler, and an artist. The gadget industry would have me believe I must be available by phone, email or a chat box at any given moment. And let’s not forget Twitter!
Perhaps the greatest distraction of all is the plethora of information that filters into my life through the portal of my computer screen. There’s no avoiding the fact that this is the information age. So why bother resisting? Is multitasking really all that bad?
According to Peter Bregman(@Peterbregman) in his article How (and Why) to Stop Multitaskingthe answer is “Yes.” Besides the oft quoted fact that talking on your cell phone while driving can be downright dangerous, you are essentially losing sleep and IQ points by adopting a behavior that doesn’t get better with time, but only worse:
“A study showed that people distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQs. What’s the impact of a 10-point drop? The same as losing a night of sleep. More than twice the effect of smoking marijuana. Doing several things at once is a trick we play on ourselves, thinking we’re getting more done. In reality, our productivity goes down by as much as 40%. “
“Research shows that heavy multitaskers are less competent at doing several things at once than light multitaskers. In other words, in contrast to almost everything else in your life, the more you multitask, the worse you are at it. Practice, in this case, works against you.”
Given these statistics, Bregman decided to spend a day doing just the opposite to see how it would affect the overall outcome of his productivity and mood. Here’s what he found:
He experienced the joy of full engagement in the moment, especially with his children, without the interruption of a checked email to break the depth of his involvement.
He made significant progress on challenging project - like writing and strategizing and experienced significant breakthroughs.
His stress dropped dramatically. “It was a relief to do only one thing at a time…. It felt reassuring to finish one thing before going to the next.”
He lost all patience for things he felt were not a good use of time. “Since I wasn’t doing anything else, I got bored much more quickly. I had no tolerance for wasted time.”
He had tremendous patience for things he felt were useful and enjoyable.There was no downside. Bregman found that “single tasking” actually reduces stress and increases efficiency
If you want practical ideas about how to stop multitasking, I recommend you read the rest of the article. It’s a good one, and quite a few people responded. Here was my favorite: “Multitasking is definitely my number one strategy when I don’t want to be creative or make money.
So what’s your opinion about multitasking? Yay or Nay?
