Multitasking: A Modern Delusion

Are you an awesome multi-tasker?

Women have a reputation at being much better at it than men. And it seems to be the only option as we try to get everything done that needs to be attended to, if we still want to have a little time left at the end of the day to sleep.

But there has been a bunch of research lately that shows that it is usually counter-productive and harmful to our health.

For one thing, what we consider to be working on many things at once actually is a switch from one thing to another to another and back…  All of that switching isn’t automatic and a lot of the effort we expend goes into those transitions.

It would take LESS time to work on one thing until it is done, then work on the next thing till it is done, etc.

And let’s talk about quality of work….  There is a really good chance that with your brain madly trying to keep up with the task at hand in a given moment, your error rate is going to go way up.  You just can’t catch as much when your attention is so chopped up.

And studies show that this only gets worse as we get older…

When our attention is jumping around – answering texts when out with friends, or answering emails while you are eating – doesn’t do anything good for our relationships OR our waistlines, either!

Signals coming from our friends, partners, and our own bodies can be missed, causing hurt feelings and overeating.

Amanda MacMillan shares more reasons to stop multitasking in a recent Huffington Post article.

I have found that the benefits of multitasking are not real, and I proved it to myself with my pedometer. You see, there is an exception to almost every rule and walking is one of the things you CAN do while doing something else!

When I started getting up from my computer and walking while I was in conference calls  (which I do a LOT in my job), I not only continued to get all my work done – I remembered what the calls were about and was able to contribute more in the discussions.

Not answering emails on those calls, and not researching problems while “listening,” actually helped me to do my job BETTER!

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