Multitasking used to be THE buzz word and everyone wanted to be a multitasker, me included. I used to pride myself being a multitasker. I thought I got a ton done in less time. Little did I know how wrong I was, that multitasking is actually a time waster. Now I know better and you can, too.
Multitasking is working against us in many ways and we need to go back to basics – back to single tasking. Back to doing one task after another instead of switching between tasks back and forth non-stop.
Multitasking is working against us
We are technically able to perform two tasks at once such as watching TV while at the same time cooking. However, we are kidding ourselves if we think we really do these two things simultaneously.
Our brain can only focus on one task at a time. When we multitask it’s constantly switching back and forth between the different tasks. You might think this is not a big deal, but it is. Every switch is costing the brain energy as well as time. We only have so much energy to go around before we experience a lack of focus and start to feel tired and exhausted.
Every task switch has a cost
Remember a time when you were in a state of flow, working your butt of and all of a sudden your partner comes into the room asking you a question? You just lost your trail of thought and can’t remember what you wanted to write down just now. Your brain switched from your writing project to listening to your partner. You losing your idea or trail of thought is the cost you paid. Does sound familiar, right?
Here’s an example of a task we all do too often and one we do between other tasks that we should be doing. Checking our emails. A study conducted by the Loughborough University found that we on average check our emails every five minutes. Plus, it takes around 64 seconds to get back into the task you were working on before you started to check your emails. If you do the maths this means that we waste one out of every six minutes. That is 10 min every hour!
Imagine what those extra 10 min can actually do for you
Another study found that it can take us up to 30% longer to complete tasks when we chose to multitask instead of working on tasks in a sequence, one after another.
Overall you can see that multitasking is costing time, it’s simply a time waster and time is what a lot of us want to have more of. We always say “I wish I had more time”. One simple way to create more of it is to concentrate on single tasking. Focus on working on one task at a time. After you’ve finished that task, move on to the next one.
However, multitasking is not just a time waster. It’s also damaging to our productivity and creativity, causes us to make poor decisions and mistakes and can ultimately contribute to our stress and feeling of overwhelm.
Multitasking isn’t doing anything for you. It’s a time waster so stop it now.
If you found this post on The Best Tip To Manage Your Time Effectively helpful, you might enjoy reading my post How To Shift Your Mindset To Get Shit Done.
And lastly, don’t forget to sign up to my 30 Day Productivity Challenge inside the Freebie Library!
Get the challenge with easy to follow and implement prompts so you can take daily action – one prompt for every day of the month that will boost your productivity without you feeling like it’s too much or overwhelming.
