Multitask: v, to do multiple things poorly!
Ahhhhhh multi-tasking. It’s common on job descriptions these days, and something that many of us pride ourselves on being able to do well! And sometimes, we don’t have a choice. We have to switch back and forth from one thing to another in order to keep all the balls we’re juggling in the air.
The problem is, our brains are not built to focus on multiple things at once, so we’re not actually doing multiple things at once, we’re switching from one thing to another. I recently learned, it’s called “Context Switching” and it leads to lower efficiency and more errors.
EEK! Ain’t nobody got time for that!
It also taxes our working memory because we have to hold on to what we switched away from until we get back to it. Hence…more errors, and you’re not 100% focused on what you switched to because you’re still holding on to what you switched from. You can lose up to 20% of your cognitive capacity
And it’s gosh darned stressful and exhausting!
In reality, we can’t stop all multi-tasking. It’s just not possible! But with certain projects, we may want to intentionally close down everything else so we can completely focus on the one thing, and get it done right.
Like as I’m writing this e-mail, I gave myself 30 minutes to get this done. I turned off the sound on my phone, and closed my e-mail, so I’m not tempted to switch back and forth.
Working from home presents its own fun set of context switching challenges (laundry, kids, pets, delivery people, snacks, Days of Our Lives, naps… You get the picture.) Sometimes when I have something I really need to focus on, I’ll go to a coffee shop, or a study carrell at the library. (box myself in with books and boring stuff so I have to focus to get out of there ASAP!) Basically, I’ll hide from life so it leaves me alone! When I worked in an office setting, I would go find an empty conference room!
So think about it. What are the tasks that really need your focus? How can you set yourself up for success so that you can get the task done fast and well? How much time could you save by not bouncing back and forth between multiple things. Sometimes it’s necessary, but when it’s not, try to set up your environment so you can truly focus and get it done!
Save yourself some time, some errors, and some overwhelm. We could all use a little of that these days.
You’ve got this. Now, go hide and get some stuff done!
