What's Wrong With Multitasking?

Are you a person who has so much on your plate that you juggle several things all at the same time? Do you pride yourself on your multi-tasking abilities? Is this scenario familiar to you? You’re on a conference call and simultaneously scanning your emails, grabbing a bite to eat and jotting down notes for tomorrow’s presentation?

If yes, keep reading.

You may be thinking, I’m doing pretty well at the balancing act and I’m someone who gets things done. Wrong, my friend…

The benefits to multi-tasking are actually WAY overrated.

In fact, it rarely saves time to multitask. Michigan psychologist David E. Meyer, PhD, along with his colleagues have found that rather than accomplishing more, people slowed down considerably when multitasking. Participants who were part of this study lost a significant amount of time shuttling between tasks of varying complexity and familiarity, adding as much as 40 percent to completion time compared to finishing one job and beginning another.

Switching back and forth among tasks creates stress and divides your attention. Plus, it’s harder to remember where you left off and requires more thinking. It actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. It’s hard to bounce in and out of getting things done and if you are in the “flow” of an activity it’s so much easier to get things done AND do them well.

In another really interesting study, researchers @ Kings College, London found in more than 80 clinical trials this “eye-opening” fact: By multi-tasking and trying to work on a project while checking their email reduced their IQ score by up to 10 points. This would be equivalent to losing a night of sleep. Wow, multi-tasking is starting to sound a lot less appealing isn’t it?

To really bring this point home, it was found that smoking a marijuana cigarette decreases the IQ by 4 points. So, in comparison multi-tasking significantly and considerably lowers your IQ by up to 10 points. Wow, multi-tasking isn’t quite as appealing now is it?

What’s the solution? Be fully present in whatever activity you are doing in the moment. Resist the temptation to do multiple things at the same time. It’s actually a waste of your time! The truth is that you get more done in the long run by doing one thing at a time with your full and undivided concentration.

Bottom line? Work smarter not harder. You will accomplish more, make fewer mistakes and do it all in a shorter amount of time and that is a smart thing to do!