We all love it; chatting during an important meeting, texting while working, calling while driving… um, you name them. That’s the bad habit that everyone would be hesitant to drop if asked to. It’s a habit that has managed to sweep everyone by the feet. In fact, in today’s society, it’s actually wasteful to perform a single task at a time.
But truth be told; multitasking doesn’t do you any favors; instead, it brings you more harm than good. If you are still in doubt, here are some reasons that might convince you to drop such a bad habit like a hot potato:
You’re surely not multitasking…
What people call multitasking is not multitasking…but task-switching. You are simply switching from one task to another before you even get a single task done. Now here’s where the problem sets in:
Your brain can only concentrate on a single task at a time. And every time you try to force it to accommodate other tasks, you are simply tricking it into shifting from one thought to another. Then back.
Plus, every time you switch back into your original task, you are not getting “tuned in” fully. As a result, your productivity keeps on deteriorating; and before you know it; you would have completely switched off.
Multitasking is the reason why you are making mistakes…
A number of experts have actually pointed out how multitasking reduces brain productivity by over 40 percent. The same experts have also decrypted how multitasking makes us introduce mistakes that could otherwise be avoided in whatever we are doing.
See, your brain can easily handle two tasks at once, since it has two lobes that can equally divide two responsibilities and handle them separately with much ease. But whenever a third task is brought into picture, the frontal cortex gets overwhelmed; thus, increasing the number of mistakes one is likely to make.
Multitasking simply means no creativity…
Multitasking forces you to use more of your working memory—better known as temporary brain storage. And every time your temporary brain storage is overused, your ability to think deeply and be creative is usually affected.
Plus, too much thinking reduces your ability to be creative while handling a problem-solving task.
It’s dangerous…
Multitasking while driving or handling any risky business is equally as bad as driving while drunk. In fact, statistics show that the number of road accidents that have actually resulted from multitasking transcends those of drunk-driving. And yes, so many teenagers have actually lost their lives because of chatting while crossing busy roads.
From the illustrations above, it’s undeniably clear that multitasking makes us stupid. It makes us less productive and extremely uncreative. Having said that, how can you stop the multitasking madness?
Call To Action…
Simple; start by writing down everything you would like to do the next day. But hey, I understand that a great majority of you, multitaskers, are already conversant with this simple technique. You’ve probably tried it a couple times, but ended up failing terribly. If so… don’t worry!
Here’s a little game changer for you:
Besides writing down your to-do-list’, get someone that will be helping you walk through the list and the tasks ahead. Now here’s where it gets more interesting; instead of just jotting down your tasks, you will have to think through each task and explain it to the person that you are brainstorming it with. And when the next day comes, you would have already gone through each task; as a result, you would have an easy time getting each task done.
Also, apart from creating a to-do-list, consider changing your work environment at least once in a while. In so doing, you will be able to regain focus really quickly as you embark on a different task after completing the first one. That said, you can easily drop your multitasking habit and become more productive by putting these two practices into action.
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