Long has multitasking been perceived as a desirable business skill, which is obvious from the vast number of CVs having it written down under the Skills and abilities section. A lot of people consider themselves to be multitaskers, but science proves they’re wrong.
According to a study from Ohio University, only 3% of the population can be considered “supertaskers.” The rest of us, we simply wish we could do it.
Neuroscience research has shown that multitasking is a myth. Our cerebral cortex can only pay attention to one task at a time. Therefore, instead of multitasking, we’re just quickly “task switching.” When you’re, say, writing and talking to someone, your brain stops doing one process and start the other. This process is pretty rough on you – it consumes more time, but what’s worse, it drains your energy and makes you more prone to mistakes. And in terms of numbers, it can cost you 40% of productive time.
Multitasking in the Workspace
Okay, so we understand that trying to do multiple things at once hinders their output – but that’s more or less noticeable in specific scenarios. Eating while typing might result in some food crumbles getting stuck in your keyboard, but won’t really affect the quality of article you’ve been writing (well, unless food crumbles really push you off the edge, but if they do, why were you eating in front of your PC then?), but we all know how texting while driving can be catastrophic.
Since our brains can’t handle multiple complex tasks at the same time, don’t even bother doing that at work. I’m sure you’re aware now how talking to a client on the phone while writing a financial report can result in a double mess.
Track Your Work and Get More Things Done
Your multitasking illusion is broken down, but hope shouldn’t be, as there’s a way to get things done in the same, or even better way – by shifting your focus.
Work tracker helps you split projects into smaller tasks, and you can focus on a specific one at a time. Since it helps you keep track of time spent on projects and tasks, you have an overall idea of how well your time is distributed within your workload. Work tracker allows you to sort those tasks in order of their importance and urgency, so you can start working on them by priority.
Many successful entrepreneurs swear on the single-tasking method. When they’re working on a specific task, it has their full attention, and whatever else is closed. They do it for everything – even checking emails. The number of business emails you might receive during the course of one day can be overwhelming – imagine having a pop-up sound every time your inbox gets bigger, and you leaving whatever you’ve been working on to check that up. It’s no wonder how your time may drain. Instead, create a 15 minute break every two hours used just for checking and prioritizing emails.
Having a work time app running in background can help you stay productive, as it also measures the time spent non-work related activities. Let’s be honest – you wouldn’t like seeing your workday consisted on 6h spent on the business project assignments, and 2 solid hours of scrolling through the Facebook feed. But even worse – surely, no superior would like to see that either.
But, in order to stay productive, you shouldn’t forget to take breaks. The human brain can hold attention for around 120 minutes, but after that, it needs a rest. Plan your tasks in work tracker in that way that allows you to squeeze in at least a 10-minute break after every two hours of hard work. Use this time to stretch out and relax, so you can regain focus and get back to work with ardor.
Final Thoughts
As science has rendered multitasking technically impossible, it’s about time we abandon the expectation of it in the workplace. Doing one thing at a time allows us to do it well, and as a result, it paradoxically allows us to get more done.
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