The Best Way to Multitask is Not To

Multitasking could be a waste of time

We all tend to get busier until we get to retirement and in this Internet age, social media interactions grab our attention for good or bad. Hence, many of us have found it necessary to multitask.

Multitasking is when you perform 2 or more activities simultaneously. It is a word many of us are eager to use to express to others how we perform multiple tasks at the the same time much in the same way our computer does- you can play music, type a document on it at the same time, work on a spreadsheet and your next best-seller as well. I am sure many people can relate to this. 

My anecdotal experience and scientific research actually indicate that we humans are actually not designed to multitask at all as our brain only effectively focuses on one activity at a time when it comes to voluntary activities; your brain can coordinate breathing, blood circulation and digestion as well as a huge number of involuntary activities simultaneously. “The brain can perform simultaneous tasks at once, but attention has capacity limitations,” According to Associate Professor Paul E. Dux, Cognitive Neuroscientist at the University of Queensland.

 

Guy Winch, PhD, author of Emotional First Aid: Practical Strategies for Treating Failure, Rejection, Guilt and Other Everyday Psychological Injuries. “When it comes to attention and productivity, our brains have a finite amount,” he says.

“It’s like a pie chart, and whatever we’re working on is going to take up the majority of that pie. There’s not a lot left over for other things, with the exception of automatic behaviors like walking or chewing gum.”

 

For example, when it comes to driving a car and taking phone calls at the same time, your brain switches to serial tasking which simply means it switches from one activity to the other in very quick succession thereby making it seem to you that you are effectively multitasking. This fact is responsible for a large number of road accidents and deaths around the world every year because even with hands-free devices, many people get distracted enough by phone calls whilst driving to get into accidents.

This principle applies to virtually every one who multitasks, we lose a certain degree of performance whilst we attempt to do so. 

So, how can you complete multiple tasks in a relatively short amount of time? I will share a few actionable tips with you next:

How to 'Multitask' Effectively

1. Identify the tasks you would like to complete and determine the time in which you want to do so. It is better to write this down or have them on your phone or any other snart device including computers. 

2. Reduce anxiety on whether or not you can complete the tasks within the time you have estimated to do so. 

3. Rank the activities in order of importance and allot time to them on this basis. 

4. Begin to work on the first task and focus on it effectively without worrying about the other tasks. Learn to work within the allotted time. Remember, no matter how long you work on an activity, you are never going to achieve perfection. Hence, learn to be happy with good work whilst seeking excellence. 

5. Once the time alloted to the first activity has been completed, move to the other task. 

6. Continue this process until you have completed all of the tasks. 

You might not complete all of your tasks using this approach but I am confident that your work would be much better than if you tried to do everything at once. 

It is also important to incorporate rest into your work schedule as it helps to improve your performance.

You can share your thoughts and experiences with me by making a comment. I am really interested in reading your opinions on my approach to multitasking.