Why Multitasking Destroys Your Productivity
Most entrepreneurs I know are proud of their “multitasking” ability.
According to Wikipedia, “Human multitasking is the performance by an individual of appearing to handle more than one task at the same time.” The keyword that multitasking a myth is: “appearing.”
The term originated with computer multitasking – a CPU solves problems by scheduling tasks and switching from task to task until each task gets its turn.
The activity of switching back-and-forth may be a computer-friendly activity, but it’s anything but human-friendly when it comes to an entrepreneur’s personal productivity in the office or home!
Dave Crenshaw wrote my favorite book on the topic and I recommend it to any entrepreneur who still thinks and feels that multitasking is cool.
On page 29 in The Myth of Multitasking, Dave writes:
“Around the end of the twentieth century, some wordsmith saw the connection between our increasingly hectic world and the world of the computer. A catchword was born.
Newspapers began peppering their articles with the word. Talk shows hosts began using it with frequency. Magazines began publishing articles about how to multitask more effectively.
Multitasking quickly became as popular and accepted as the automobile and the hamburger.”
Multitasking is not really conducting two or more (”multi”) activities (”tasking”) simultaneously; rather, it’s more accurately switching between those task, or switchtasking as Dave Crenshaw puts it.
Heck, even top jugglers are switchtaskers at heart because they can only touch one ball at a time.
Multitasking or switchtasking reduces your efficiency (doing things right) and effectiveness (doing the right things) because it constantly switches your mental focus.
As your concentration diminishes during the switch-over time (less than a second in most cases) the number of errors and mistakes you make dramatically increases.
In fact, many states such as California have outlawed multitasking on the highway by making it an illegal to speak on handheld mobile phone while driving a car.
“A mere half second of time lost to task switching can mean the difference between life and death for a driver using a cell phone, because during the time that the car is not totally under control, it can travel far enough to crash into obstacles the driver might have otherwise avoided,” reports Dr. David Meyer from the University of Michigan.
His findings aren’t very surprising in the over-communicated world we live in these days. But what is astounding to me is that Dr. Meyer published his findings way back in the August, 2001!
Okay, so let me ask you a candid question. How many of these 7 common multitasking activities do you engage in?
- Writing emails while speaking on the telephone
- Instant messaging while conducting teleseminars
- Checking voice mail while speaking to your spouse
- Reading the newspaper while listening to the news
- Watching TV while having a family conversation
- Driving your car while talking on your cell phone
- Tweeting while emailing while IMing while …
If you’re like most entrepreneurs I know, you’ve done “all of the above” at some point in your adult life. But my point isn’t to nag you about multitasking as it is to make you conscious of how destructive it can be for your future.
The fundamental problem of multitasking is not about doing the tasks. It is about the splintered attention you tend to experience as you think about doing the tasks. Your results become mediocre at best.
Stacking vs. Multitasking: Now what if you could do two things at once, but only kept the majority of your attention on ONE thing, that’s a good thing. I call that stacking and Dave Crenshaw calls it background tasking.
You can call it whatever you wish, but it is a productive use of time doing multiple things because only ONE of the tasks you’re doing requires mental effort. Stacking helps you to get more done, faster, better and with less mental effort.
Here are a few stacking activities that boost your efficiency:
- Eating dinner while watching TV
- Jogging while listening to your iPod
- Driving while listening to the radio
- Writing email while printing a letter
- Eating a snack while riding a bicycle
- Listening to the news while showing
- Reading a book while getting a haircut
Stacking doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll become more effective (doing the right things), but it can practically guarantee more efficiency (doing things right) for greater productivity, which is maximum results in minimum time.
Stacking & America’s Middle-Class: Henry Ford didn’t invent the car, but he did produce automobiles within the economic reach of the average American.
Many historians and economics credit Ford helping suburbs grow and even creating the Middle Class in America. I believe he did this by preventing his workers from multitasking.
Ford’s ability to produce affordable automobiles was through the development of assembly lines that increased the efficiency of car manufacturing while decreasing costs. Ford did not invent the assembly line, he simply improved it.
Prior to the introduction of the assembly line, cars were individually crafted by teams of skilled workmen which was a very slow and expensive process. This is classic multitasking during the Industrial Age.
Ford’s assembly line reversed the process of car manufacturing. Instead of forcing his workers to multitask and go to each car individually, he created a stacking environment in which the cars came to the workers who performed the same task of assembly again and again.
The stacking power of the assembly line made it possible to reduce the manufacturing time of a Model T from thirteen hours to less than six hours!
Here’s what resulted: When Model T made its debut in 1908, it was offered at a purchase price of $825. Four years later the price dropped to $575. By 1914, Ford claimed a 48% share of the world’s automobile market!
It’s All About WHEN: The next time when you catch yourself multitasking, stop what you’re doing, take a quick pause and focus on completing ONE activity before you decide to switch tasks. A lack of completion is really what makes multitasking such a destructive force.
You not only become more mentally stressed by splintering your attention on two or more activities at the same time (and make more mistakes along the way), you also have to deal with the guilt of incompletion!
When you favor stacking over multitasking your daily activities, you almost instantly become more efficient, more effective and you start feeling better about yourself for getting the job done with a great sense of focus.
What To Do Now: You can stop the insanity of multitasking right now by listing (in the Comments Section of this blog post) 2 to 3 multitasking activities you commonly engage in at work or at home.
If none come to mind, just grab your mouse and scroll-up and re-read the 7 common multitasking activities I listed earlier.
The next time you find yourself multitasking, take a moment to think about what you’re doing and then quickly decide which task you want to complete first and complete that one.
Remember: Sloppy success with a single task is far superior than perfect mediocrity with multiple tasks.
Tags: entrepreneur, Info Marketing, multitasking, myth, optimization, productivity, teleseminar
Okay, here’s my multitasking confession…
The #1 multitasking activity I’m guilty of is talking on the phone (to one person, not a Teleseminar) and receiving and responding to Instant Messages at the same time.
With this admission, I will shut my IM program down anytime I call a colleague or friend, or receive an expected call from a colleague or friend. Done deal :-)
~ Alex
I’ve been known to:
twitter + email
twitter + listen to teleseminars
email + listen to audio courses
To stop this destructive behavior I’m scheduling blocks of time for certain activities that I used to multitask. I check email at certain times of the day. Other times, my email program is off and the notification message is off to avoid distractions. Same for twittering – I check my twitter account at regular intervals, but not every 2 minutes!
When I follow this schedule I’m more productive and less stressed!
Alex, I love the Henry Ford example – it shows how an innovative manufacturing approach created a Win-Win situation.
Steve Sponseller
Intellectual Property Strategist
As a manager, I was guilty of this for many years. I though it was very productive. It was only when I began to realize I was forgetting half of the stuff I did while “multi-tasking” that I made an effort to give each task my 100% attention. Especially phone conversations. Single tasking is much more productive and results in higher quality work. Now if I could stop task-distraction…
I forgot to list my 2-3 items!!
1. Surfing the web while talking on the phone
2. Having a conversation with an employee while looking at my blackberry
3. I don’t watch much TV at home but – watching TV while sitting in a restaurant with the family. This really annoys them.
Right now as I type this there are 5 web pages open, it is like a path where each one ultimately led me to this page. Is that Multi-tasking or just ADD?
Turnkey,
I’ve found the fastest and easiest way to eliminate multitasking is to give those most important to you your 100% undivided attention when in their presence. They’re skeptical at first, but after you demonstrate your focus, they appreciate you more and for me, it’s a superb motivator to eliminate multitasking in other less threatening areas in my life such as business projects.
Thanks for commenting,
~ Alex
Steve,
Thanks for commenting and acknowledging the Henry Ford example. I honestly believe his refusal to multitask and single minded was most responsible for his wealth and contribution to American industry. Stacking builds momentum, multitasking destroys it. Without momentum, business crumble and eventually fail. That’s my own experience anyway.
Thanks for commenting,
~ Alex
Pat’s top 3
1. Writing emails while surfing the web
2. Writing this comment and twittering
3. Listening to a teleclass + surfing + twittering + IM’ing …
Time to focus, focus, focus!
Thanks, Alex.
–Pat & Lorna
http://PatAndLorna.com
Alex,
I will now walk away from emails/IM when talking on the phone. You get so much more done when focusing on single task. I am glad you shared this message today. We all at times can get caught up in multitasking. Great advice.
Rob
Hi, Alex,
Great post. Love the Ford example. that alone makes me rethink the way I am doing things. Even if I am doing them well, there is likely a LOT of room for improvement. As a mom, I spent a lot of time having to multi-task. it got us all through the day, but I was brain dead.
As a mom with a business, there are still a lot of times I feel I have to multi-task, but I see life goes better when I limit that. But as I write this, maybe these cross over into stacking.
cook dinner+check email+ listen to podcast+do laundry
IM with 2 different people + talk to kids + handle emails
write blogs+email+IM
I have found, though, that if I can have just one hour a day where I do just one thing – turn off all phones, email, IMs, etc. and focus on one task at a time – and have that hour around 9 or 10 AM, I can get AMAZING amounts of clear, good work done.
“A lack of completion is really what makes multitasking such a destructive force.” – I think you hit the nail on the head right there. Thanks for the clarity.
The image I’ve always had from the word multitasking is one of a multi-armed, highly efficient, blurred-by-speed super-being getting huge amounts of work done in record time. But now that you bring out the fact that it’s not simultaneous action, but constantly switching, I see the chaos and inefficiency of it. Thanks for your insight!
tv (on computer screen 2) + 3 programs running + keeping eye on e-mail
filing + reading a book on my desk each time my eyes pass over it + music or tv going
YIKES, I already know how bad this is. I keep reminding myself that rich or poor – everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. Those scurrying to multi-task find it hard to focus. No focus – no real success. No focus – tough to get help. In the end, busyness rather than business.
Tough habits to break though… always thinking I’m ‘missing’ something. Thanks for this great reminder, Alex.
Great post. I had just posted something about this yesterday through Pingfm: Get more done and batch your work … The Myth of Multitasking http://ping.fm/Y6fdX
Because I have so many interests and I work on a variety of projects, multitasking can be a problem. Add social networking to it and it’s an even bigger issue with which to contend. I’ve been working the past year to focus on batching my work – grouping tasks – so that I can get more done – faster, easier, and with less effort — wording courtesy of Alex :) !
I’m even more concerned about creating new systems for doing my work because of the studies I have been reading concerning the harmful effects to the brain from engaging in multi-tasking.
Doing a little extra planning the night before or the morning of, using a project management system (I use BasecampHQ for my work), automating everything I can, and rearranging how things are done and when, has really helped me a lot. I accomplish much more and without as much stress. The less I multi-task, the less I feel stressed and the more I enjoy my day.
It’s simple to do, but like anything else, it needs to be cultivated and integrated into my daily life through practice.
Great post and another reminder that this topic is really important if you want to be successful in our ever-changing and multi-faceted world of work.
Tara Kachaturoff
Thank you for the info Alex. I’m trying to break this habit also. I find myself listening to audios and videos while opening email, or getting sidetracked from one website to another to another.
A recent discovery also has found that multitasking actually helps lead to Alzheimer’s. They used to say multitasking was good because it kept your mind active. Now they say it causes you to not be able to focus at all.
Just bought the book “The Myth of Multitasking” as you suggested, can’t wait to start reading and improve on my multitasking weaknesses.
Alex,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention! And I find the distinction between multitasking and stacking very helpful.
I am guilty of talking on the phone (usually correspondence) while doing another activity (IM, email, surfing, etc.) Also, I have seen my attention wander and drift to checking email via my iphone while I am trying to listen to someone in real time.
I have a colleague who had a unique way of expressing the need for focus and the reduction of multitasking. It went like this…
“Please give me 100% of your attention units.”
You have mine now…
:-)
Marc Harty
30 Minute PR Guy
http://www.30MinutePR.com
Hi Alex,
Terrific post. As a Professional Organizer and speaker on time and space management I learned long ago about the negative effects of multi-tasking. It hugely increases the chances for mis-communication,
mis-management, and missed opportunities.
In my previous career I confess that one of my first questions when interviewing potential travel agents was: “how are your multi-tasking skills?” I regret that now and advocate that people practice their focus by blocking out a period of time – even 15 minutes – to work on a single project as a way to re-train the brain.
Thanks for all the great information!
All my life I have considered myself a lousy multi-tasker, even when that was the “in” thing to be so I almost didn’t read this article. I do so because my 5 adult children in their 20’s all do several things at once and it drives me crazy. I wanted to see what you had to say.
I have talked on the phone and burned my food that I was cooking,
tried to comb my hair while driving to graduation years ago and almost hit someone, and could give you many more instances of why it never worked for me. At work for several years I had to talk on the phone with customers while typing accurate notes while at the same time as having to be aware when to get off the phone for a meeting or break.
I was never good at doing all of that at once and many times was late for lunch or meeting as a result.
It’s good to see I was correct that it is healthier and tasks are completed better when focused on one at a time unless they are stacked such as you explained- eating while watching tv, for instance.
I sure wish that people in the grocery store wouldn’t talk on their cellphones while pushing their cart and trying to grocery shop all at the same time. My body would appreciate not getting banged up by them. ;)
Hey, Alex. Thanks for the mention. It was an honor to get to know you at SANG.
If it’s all right with you, I’ve posted up a free exercise your readers can take (no opt-in required)
http://www.davecrenshaw.com/alex
This is the same “multitasking is worse than a lie” exercise from the book. I recommend you print the PDF for the most telling results.
All the best,
Dave Crenshaw
Author, The Myth of Multitasking
Thanks Alex,
That’s such a great reframe. Everyone says don’t multitask but it’s near impossible in this world. Because there’s few acceptable alternatives, it goes in one ear and out the other.
I love the idea of stacking though. excellent food for thought for an extremely busy day!
Brad
Alex, For me, multi-tasking is futile. Whenever I tried multi-tasking i got less done in MORE time. That wasn’t good and for a while I was at a standstill. Then I found out about outsourcing. Outsourcing gives me the freedom to spend more time with a client and still get everything I need done for that client finished on time. An because of me spending more time with my clients and getting most things done for them in a tmely manner, I look like their hero. I get a lot of; I don’t know how you did it but you’re fantastic.
So, for me, Outsourcing = 1 and multi-tasking = zero.
Texting while climbing trees.
Taking a nap while flying a kite.
Eating a banana while riding a unicycle.
So stressful…
Alex,
I find this post of great interest, as multitasking is my great strength, and perhaps my greatest weakness.
As for stacking, I have a black belt in that! As you know, that’s how I discovered you … by listening to your podcast while walking my dog.
In fact, when I discovered that I could turn “dead time” into learning time with my iPod, I estimate that I listened to over 400 hours of spoken word audio that first single year. I did so by keeping my iPod loaded with good brain food and taking it everywhere. I listened while …
- Driving (with an FM transmitter)
- Shopping for groceries
- Watching my son’s Karate class
- Rehabbing my knee after surgery
- Hiking and jogging
- Etc.
This form of stacking the best and easiest way for busy entrepreneurs and students of human potential to take back at least one hour a day for their continuing education. I can honestly say that it accelerated by personal and business growth faster than anything else I’ve ever done.
@DanSafkow
Hi Alex,
What a wake-up call this was! But I also love the solution of “stacking” versus “multi-tasking”. And the Juggler was amazing! I have had days that felt like that! (I hope everyone noticed that was a link.)
Yes, I have done many of those multi-tasking situations. But have you noticed how it feels when people do that to you? You can actually hear it in a person’s tone of voice when they are multi-tasking and not really listening to you (twittering or whatever instead of listening). You can feel the lack of connection, hear it in their tone of voice, and the biggest tip off is when they ask you a question that you have just answered. ouch!
It takes the connection out of connecting!
Plus I love this more accurate way of understanding the process — stacking your tasks. It works for me.
Thanks for taking the time to share these thoughts with us.
Martha
Hi Alex,
I totally agree with your message about switch-tasking. I have been guilty of it – just safe stuff, no texting while driving. I have been guilty of checking email while talking on the phone or even while listening to a teleseminar. Then I hear a good point that is being made and miss the lead up to the point, so miss part of the true understanding.
I think the act of single- or multi-tasking is like a muscle that needs to be exercised. The more we do of one, the easier that one becomes making the other a bit harder. I used to single-focus quite well, then fell out of that the more I found myself mult-tasking. So now I will redevelop that muscle of single focus since that is what will keep me truly moving forward to attain my goals. Thanks for raising this awareness, Alex.
Alex,
Multitasking is counter productive, inefficient and rude, if done while someone is attempting to hold a serious conversation with the person multitasking. Try to remember a cell phone conversation you had while checking your e-mail or viceversa.
Steve
Oh, yeah, I’m guilty. I tend to have too many goals for my online research, and end up with lots of random notes and no conclusions. After weeks of wondering when I would have time to sort all this stuff, I stopped multi-tasking when doing research, and began focusing on just one area or one point. Now I end up with cohesive interrelated notes that tell me what I want to know, and I am making much more overall progress. Thanks for the reminder!
IfI were to pick out two easy one’s it would be talking on the phone while driving and reading while watching tv.
I have no family so they are not a factor.
I became aware of being ‘mindful’ years ago after reading book on the topic.
Essentially it is being fully mindful of what you doing at the moment.
The more common,and less useful phrase IMHO is ’staying in the moment’. That sets up a harder task with the constant chatter of the mind. Being mindful seems a softer more acheivable mindset.
I struggle with this but when I remember to be mindful my output soars.
Another corollary issue is being too creative; holding too wide a set of ideas without focusing (being fully mindful) of a primary biz idea and, perhaps a secondary evening more passive biz to set up.
The wealth of fascinating possibilies, the new SocNet for example, captures my imagination and forces time and effort to understand and integrate or start anew.
Your concept of stacking might be useful on the topic. Perhaps we could get your thoughts?
Great article which many – especially women – must heed.
However, many of your stacking activities are an absolute “No-No” as they interfere with digestion: watching TV while eating, riding bike while eating; watching TV during exercise severly limits what you get out of your exercise.
In the interest of consistency with your message and effectiveness, skip the stacking stuff too.
Hi Alex,
My #1 multi-tasking temptation has been to check email while I’m on the phone. If I’m talking to friends or family, I now try to leave my desk altogether and move to a different part of my home office. If I’m talking to a client and need to be in front of the computer, I close my email browser.
Thanks for a great post!
#1 is email, especially with the addition of my Blackberry. (That truly annoys everyone. I just got it recently and I actually think my productivity has DECREASED!)
#2 is surfing the web while I am on a call, on a webinar, etc.
#3 watching TV. Like Turnkey, I don’t watch TV at home, but I do when I am on the road. If the TV is on, and I TRY to do anything else, the TV wins. (Not sure if that is multi-tasking or addiction – either way it is a huge waste of time.)
Resolutions:
#1 – My alert on my Blackberry is off and Outlook is shutdown (I’ll check it 4X a day from here on out. This will take some discipline.)
#2 – I still will need to get on the internet for research, so I can’t go cold turkey. But I will work on my ADD-like behavior of drilling to unrelated topics because they look interesting.
#3 – I hit the road this evening, so I will see if I can keep the TV off on this trip and get more work done on my website.
Henry Ford is great and started ball rolling. One negative effect of his approach (especially when he added the Scientific Management tools of Fredrick Taylor) is that the assembly line also stifled innovation from the employees. They literally became ‘hired hands’ and checked their brains at the door. It was viewed as the time as the price required for the gains achieved.
Toyota took Ford’s concepts after WWII and added a heavy dose of employee involvement. Their ability to have standard work (your point of one task at a time done in the optimal method) with innovation really sets them apart. So it is possible to follow a rather rigorous process to get things done AND innovate. In fact, the streamlined focus of getting one thing done at a time actually can free resources to do more innovation because tasks get done with far less waste.
Alex, thanks for the impetus to continuously improve.
What if a professional athlete tried to multi-task? Imagine the batter on the phone to his wife, think he’d get a hit? I do not know who started folks believing that we can do many things at once and do them well (probably the same person that said the more hours you work the more you will get done) but we need to stop this falsehood dead in its track. http://www.happinessu.org/time/day%208.asp
Hmmm. Thanks for this clarification. Guess I do more stacking, but I always have at least 5 IE windows open to go back and forth between. My biggest multi-tasking things are:
Driving and talking on cell
Emailing and talking on cell
Working on laptop and listening to TV!
Alex,
The multi-tasking activity I do most often is talk on the phone and fix a meal at the same time. In some respects, this is stacking but the noise can be a distraction to the other person and they know they aren’t getting my full attention. At work, I find I clear e-mails while talking on the phone or listen to a teleseminar. I rarely respond unless it’s a quick, no thought e-mail. I am working on being more respectful to my friends and family and concentrate on them when we are on the phone.
Lesli
What a great post! Thank you so much for saying these things that are needing to be heard. We tend to pride ourselves in how much we get done and yet we compromise producing excellent results.
My biggest pet peeves are
- people talking on cell phone while we are out to dinner!
- teleseminar hosts being “partially” on the call while checking Twitter or email. I am giving up valuable time to learn from them and I believe I can expect their full attention when they are teaching!
My biggest failures:
- working on my biz as I’m “sort-of listening” to my kids talking to me.
- Twittering while writing articles.
:O!! I have some work to do before I am in a position to judge others, wouldn’t you agree? (Ignore “my biggest pet peeve entry!”)
Thanks again for the reminder!
Pat
As I’m typing this I’m tweeting, Facebookin, & closing out 2 emails to prepare for launching a new online marketing suite of products. . . .too much? Being predominately Rt-brain, all creative I’m always having to rein myself into a more narrow field of focus. I’m bombarded w/ constant new ideas & so another element is prioritizing but it is a constant challenge (for me, & definitely for my Lt-brain bus. partners)
I read & write more than 1 book at a time, as well as testing recipes for a cookbook. Guess this is a little bit of an issue for me:)
I do stack reading bus books & goals while working out & lunch. Aaahh, a work in progress. . . .I’m going to check out the multitasking book! Thanks for this!
Jennifer
As a competitive runner, I have been known to talk with people on the phone using my blue tooth ear piece while on long slow runs. Knowing the downturns of multitasking, I try real hard not to do it and schedule everything out pretty well. I teach this to my business coaching clients all the time. They insist that to multitask is to be productive. Yes, eventually they do get more done, but not at the same level as doing one thing at a time.
Keep the good tips and info coming Alex,
~ Dave Hale
The Internet Marketing Professor
1-Driving while talking on the phone
2-Writing emails while on the phone
3-Instant messaging while on the phone
I don’t do any of these very often and I even feel guilty when doing it, but my favorite “stacking” is definitely eating lunch while watching TV!!
Thanks Alex, great post and if people read this and practice this it will have a profound impact on their day to day productivity.
~Dolan
That is a very useful distinction to know the difference between Multitasking and Stacking. I’m relieved to know the difference! I enjoy listening to many podcasts (currently in the Podcast Secrets program which is incredible) while walking and exercising.
Now that you have demonstrated the difference I’ll be more careful about my multitasking activities!
Tara,
Thanks for your comment. I too have made it “OK” to multitask non-dangerous activities … until I hit a glass ceiling of too much stuff to do and not enough results generated – that happened in February, 2009.
It hit me like a shovel to the forehead to treat any type of multitasking as “dangerous” to my personal AND professional life.
I like your single focus approach and it reminds me to do the same.
Thanks for sharing,
~ Alex
James,
My favorite “stacking” activities is listening to CDs or MP3 educational programs during “dead time” – car, subway, plane, etc My second favorite is doing push-ups with my 45 pound daughter Breanna on my back (health/fitness + father/daughter time).
I’ll learn during “dead” time for the rest of my life, and probably have to stop with the push-up bit in 2 years :-)
Thanks for commenting,
~ Alex
Thanks David,
Lots of interesting true stories come business professional infected with the disease of multitasking…
Dr. Ed Hallowell (ADD expert) once reported this in USA Today: “A female patient asked me if I thought it was abnormal that her husband lays the BlackBerry on the bed when they make love.”
Thanks for your comment,
~ Alex
Alex, what you say could not be more true. We are all guilty of attempting to do multiple thngs at the same time. I used to talk on the cell phone while driving. My partner to me that she felt unsafe while I was doing this…I stopped immediately! I not write down my to do list, prioritize it and stack into it tasks that do not require my constant attention. I tend to be slightly ADHD and this keeps me on focus, otherwise I could just do the head spin and get nothing accomplished effectively! Thanks for setting us straight about the reality of ineffective time management usage!
Pat,
You’re welcome and thanks for commenting.
I wrote the post because I needed to read it most :-)
~ Alex
I didn’t realize until now how guilty I am of splintered attention. However, I am a single mom so my attention is often split into a million different directions on a daily basis as it is.
Looking at this though I can see I am guilty of Skyping while talking on the phone, Skyping while in Second Life, checking email while trying to talk to friends on the internet, yeah looks like I am a chatty person which I am I love talking to people.
I am a one person show when it comes to running my blog so I have many things I have to do every day which are more or less daily tasks and I haven’t really grasped being comfortable with outsourcing anything yet.
So I should really sit down and have a daily praxis session and stick to it.
Thanks Alex for writing about this. It was timed at a moment when I am feeling overwhelmed.
The ’stacking’ things like TV / dinner and iPod / exercising could be said to contribute to each other so it’s a form of symbiosis.
It seems to me that it’s where your energy is. On the phone your energy is properly focussed on the person you are speaking to. Animals and children (not to mention spouses) can always tell if you are ‘not present’ and will attempt to attract your attention to get you back in the room or focussed on the conversation with THEM.
The thing I am finding is that people can always tell where the energy is.
Division always tends to lead to disruption of energy – or extra use of it and multitasking is divisive of the attention, I can see that focussing on one thing at a time is more productive…. unless it’s walking the dog and having a good time with the children.
I am glad the expression has been observed and ‘brought to account’.
Jackie
My multitasking activities:
1. Surfing the web and talking to my daughter
2. Talking on the phone while trying to cook something
3. Working simultaneously on 2-3 different writing projects because one in some sense depends on the other (very stressful I can tell you)
In general I try to focus on something and finish it before I start something else except when I can arrange the things in a way that I can start something that can be continued without my involvement meanwhile I can do 2-3 other things so I can finish everything together.
It’s funny, Alex, that you mentioned that you wrote the post because you needed to read it most. I have the same feeling regarding my own posts!
Studies have confirmed that the human mind is incapable of multi-tasking. When my husband talks with me while I am reading e-mail, I fail to understand either one or the other. If I am thinking of all I have to do while conversing with a friend, the friend knows I am not listening. If I listen to the radio while driving, my attention is distracted from driving. It seems to me that the idea entertained previously of deciding what action you want a person to take in order to close a sale requires that you be fully present to be successful. Your internal conversation must connect with that of the other person, or failure will more likely be the result. Multi-tasking distracts and makes this full connection impossible. Thanks for addressing this critical issue.
Bee
Lia,
Interesting, isn’t it?
I teach what I need to learn most. Puts extra pressure on me. I’ve found when I “eat my own cooking” I become a better teacher and a more productive value creator for others. Looks like you do the same with your own posts.
Thanks for commenting,
~ Alex
Bee,
The funny thing is PC’s are also incapable of multitasking; they’re just more efficient and effective at “switchtasking” than human minds. My “internal conversations” makes things complicated enough :-) Engaging in a conversation with someone AND working on a task at the same time is 3 activities: 1) My self talk, 2) The core activity, and 3) The conversation I “appear” to be engaged in.
Crazy isn’t it?
Anyway, thanks for commenting,
~ Alex
Your are perfectly right,multitasking is a waste of time,nothing gets done,or ever get done properly.And as the saying goes,if you walk too fast you may have to walk twice,in multitasking,correcting your mistakes.If you canot complete something you should work on it for a certain amount of time then stop where you can start again without going back to correct mistakes and move to the next project,and try to complete those you can to enable more time on project that require more time.
we canot concentrate on more than one thing at a time so multitasking interupt concentration,therefore things take longer to complete,and the day goes by without accomplinging much,not to mention the mistakes that have to be corrected;waste of time.
George.
Agree absolutely! Multitasking generally bad; stacking generally good!
I did Eben Pagan’s Wake Up Productive course in the winter and that gave me an entirely new spin on the folly of continous multitasking… I’ve now radically overhauled how I work, and close my inbox, FB, Twitter and anything else that’s going to distract, before focusing on one task at a time, in specified, uninterrupted chunks. And guess what? The world doesn’t end because I missed a Tweet and a lot more gets done! (Highly recommend Wake Up Productive if Eben runs it again…)
I do continue to have my seriously unfocused moments and it’s scary how quickly time passes when you’re zapping from tab to tab, checking inbox, Tweet Deck, FB, this blog, that blog, &c, &c – even if what you’re doing is of some value.
Stacking is another matter – nothing at all wrong with running with my iTouch or eating breakfast while reading and listening to the radio… At least I don’t think so!
Thanks, Alex — you’ve certainly made the distinctions clear!
For years I’ve taken pride in how clever I am (i.e., “seem” to be) at multitasking… But recently I’ve noticed how I’ve ripped myselff off: e.g., when watching TV while e-mailing or sorting papers… As a result, many times I’ve missed the important clue, the final turning point in the TV show… Well, you know what I mean. Gracias!
As we know, the “multi-tasking” CPU is actually doing only ONE thing at a time for a small slice of time before it switches to doing another ONE thing for another small slice of time.
Focusing on ONE thing at a time helps us be more productive. However, unlike the CPU that can switch between tasks with very low loss of energy, humans lose some energy when switching between the contexts of one task to another. This is why time management gurus recommend that we handle one task (or a part of a task) only once, and don’t need to come back to it.
So it makes sense to group similar tasks together – such as making calls, checking mail, doing serious thinking and planning, etc. and focus on one set of similar tasks before switching to another set of similar task/s.
This is in a way “single-tasking” that helps us get more done without the loss of productivity when we “multi-task”.
To really do justice to the weightier things in daily life, I KNOW I have to focus. My productivity goes way up as I knock the tasks out one by one. (The resultant good feelings of accomplishment propel me onward to get done the less favorite things on the list.) Prioritizing and planning ahead is key– reassess and shuffle to keep the clarity of what I consider tasks of lesser consequence. This prioritizing includes unexpected interruptions– tactfully (and lovingly for family members) suggest a later time when appropriate. (It also helps when you change in the phone booth before you start your day. lol)
Wow! It has never occured to me that multitasking reduces productivity. Thank you Alex for this insight. After reading your blog I have decided to have a “To Do List” which I sincerely want to stick to. True very little ends up being accomplished and effeciently. There is a say “one can not serve two masters you will either end up annoying one or both” I will observe my time management skills more closely now.
Great article, Alex. Concentration seems to be the key to mental efficiency and success.
What is multitasking? For me this means keeping two or more tasks and their context information “in my head” at the same time and frequently switching contexts. The difficulty of keeping track of several sets of context information seems to be the reason multitasking is so challenging. The key to greater efficiency seems to be reducing the frequency of task switching. Two common examples of multitasking come to mind.
1. Airplane pilots must multitask during a landing. They control and keep track of airspeed, altitude, rate of descent, and several other streams of information that can rapidly change. Mastering this type of “real-time” multitasking situation is a matter of life and death for pilot and passengers! It requires a great deal of skill and training. You might argue that in this case, the tasks all share the same context.
2. The other example that comes to mind is worry. When I worry, it is as though I have an extra, unwanted (and useless!) task on my mind that makes it difficult to concentrate. So I stop and try to deal with the cause of my worrying.
I don’t multitask by choice, but sometimes a situation comes up that requires immediate attention. Consider a phone call. The call (a new task) interrupts my current task and requires a task switch. Instead of performing both tasks poorly at the same time, I try to quickly handle the interruption. I may jot a note to myself, and return to the task I have scheduled. The act of switching tasks is wasteful. Think of the person who gets interrupted and then asks, “Now where was I…?” My effectiveness & efficiency both increase with proper scheduling and improved concentration. On the other hand it is nice to be available to other people. Maybe it’s really about balance and respect.
reading thru this post, I couldn’t help but think that an Entrepreneur is forced into “multi tasking”.
we are required to have a working knowledge of the budget, sales/marketing, product knowledge including competition, R&D, etc.
and while performing any one of these general, but heavy, tasks – we are required to be pulled into any direction by our partners, associates, employees, customer/clients —– and to do it politely so not to discourage.
Entrepreneurship is a special breed.
Alex, for the most part, I agree with this post. And I’m guilty of the multitasking crime although I’m taking steps to rehabilitate myself.
I do have issues, however, with the suggestion that eating while watching TV is efficient stacking. While you may not run the risk of killing yourself and other people as in phone/driving, or of offending someone as in phone/email, eating and watching TV comes with its own particular set of disadvantages.
Unaware eating often leads to overeating for many reasons I won’t go into here, not the least of which is that we aren’t paying attention when our bodies start saying, “That’s enough for now.” So, how efficient or effective can we possibly be when our health is adversely affected?
And to make it worse, we lose out on the sensory pleasure of tasting, smelling and feeling our food. To what end? So we can passively observe other (often fictitious) people participating in their own lives.
The same goes for eating while net surfing. Better to pay attention to our food while it’s going in than to pay attention after it’s settled around our mid-sections.
Oh dear! I didn’t realize I was so impassioned about this…
Top multitask for me:
phone/email
Favourite stacking:
reading in bathroom. :)
Thanks for this thought provoking article. Just this morning I became resolved to remove some ’stacks’ completely and re-focus my attention on my primary goals.
I do not agree with some ’stacking’ suggestions, however, like eating while doing something else, or reading while exercising. Oh you can do them, but at the expense of your digestion and physical fitness. These activities require consciousness, as the cells of your body have the same underlying consciousness and are enablers to a healthy mind.
So instead of distracting yourself from boring activities, I try to choose more interesting activities where I can be present in the moment to extract the greatest benefit from them.
Bravo Alex! Some years ago I developed a workshop and accompanying handbook called The Juggling Act – A Workbook for the Very Harried. The first issue we address is the critical difference between multi-tasking and juggling. Multi-tasking implies tasks in-hand simultaneously which places great stress on the executive control processes of the brain. Juggling implies consecutive tasks in and out of hand for a planned period of time. It requires scheduling, prioritizing, attention to the moment, rhythm and flow and once achieved can be carried on in perpetuity, exercising, rather than stressing the brain.
Hi Alex,
This is great. Multi-tasking swithches from and to within the same thing and its hard to distinguish which one is on or off. Stacking perhaps is distinguishable like jogging and listening to ipod – using muscular parts of your body while the other one is using your auditory system. The brain I think can clearly distinguish between the signals… However, in multi-tasking you used the same channel and so switching can not be distinguishable huh– hysteresis? probably the brain gets annoyed too… I would favor stacking…thank you,
I like the Henry Ford example too.
Thanks.
Robert
Hi Alex,
So true. My big one is having the TV on while I go through emails. I realize that I really can’t focus on either one and things of value can be missed. After reading this post I am again aware of the benefits of focusing on one thing at a time. More efficient and more effective.
Much Love and Aloha,
Dr. Amy
Indeed,
I had seven business ideas: consulting, training, trading in phones, trading in cosmetics, multi-level marketing, garbage related bsuiness and a gift items manufacturing venture…did I mention I have a husband and a toddler and an infant…and interests in an NGO, how on EARTH ccould I do all that, and still maintain good neighbourliness, call my relatives, my friends, chair my nvestment club…..
I have come down to four, need to half that to two then half it again and just do one.
Thanks for this gentle nudge Alex! Yup – I am a SKYPER typer, Twitter chatter, Facebook posting, email checking, phone talker.
Maybe someone can invent a way to put the computer in sleep mode when the phone rings? Or a big pop-up screen that says, “FOCUS!!!”
:-)
I ran across another article entitled, Ear Plugs to Lasers: The Science of Concentration, http://tinyurl.com/scienceofconcentration …
“Multitasking is a myth,” Ms. Gallagher said. “You cannot do two things at once. The mechanism of attention is selection: it’s either this or it’s that.” She points to calculations that the typical person’s brain can process 173 billion bits of information over the course of a lifetime.
“People don’t understand that attention is a finite resource, like money,” she said. “Do you want to invest your cognitive cash on endless Twittering or Net surfing or couch potatoing? You’re constantly making choices, and your choices determine your experience, just as William James said.”
Interesting article, enjoy.
Kind Regards,
Tara Kachaturoff
My bads are:
1. Listening to Alex TSS MP4 player while reading the Wall Street Journal. I commit to doing this no longer
2. Reading emails while on the phone. Tough habit to break
My goods are;
1. Using Alex’s “50-minute” hour timer, chosing one project to work on, disconnect the phone, set email to manual download and focus on one project. Then spend 10 minutes getting up, and moving around, and doing something oxygenating or visualizing success.
Favorite Stacking techniques
1. Listening to Alex on TSS MP4 player while shaving, driving, cooking, even while lifting weights.
2. Gardening and listening to music, or podcasts.
3. Hiking and discussing stuff with my wife and friends
I am not worried about feeling the guilt of incompletion because I know that such feelings can be totally eliminated forever (by choosing to create permanent unconditional freedom from guilt–a common emotional reaction).
But I am sometimes concerned about my “addiction” to multitasking. My most common one is having 20 windows open on my laptop and switching from one to the next every time the thought to do so comes up–what a time waster and focus destroyer.
This lack of focus is probably one of the main reasons for not being more well known yet, even though I have been at this internet marketing game for many years.
I like your theory about Ford’s success. However, even though assembly routine work has led to great advances, it has also created a lot of stress and boredom. One solution to that, which Maharishi Mahesh Yogi often talked about, could be to give such workers (i.e. all of us) an opportunity for twice daily infinite creativity. Maharishi used to tell business people that this can be accomplished easily through the practice of a mind-expanding technique such as Transcendental Meditation).
As always, I enjoyed your post Alex.
Dr Claude Windenberger
I am not worried about feeling the guilt of incompletion because I know that such feelings can be totally eliminated forever (by choosing to create permanent unconditional freedom from guilt–a common emotional reaction).
But I am sometimes concerned about my “addiction” to multitasking. My most common one is having 20 windows open on my laptop and switching from one to the next every time the thought to do so comes up–what a time waster and focus destroyer.
This lack of focus is probably one of the main reasons for not being more well known yet, even though I have been at this internet marketing game for many years.
I like your theory about Ford’s success. However, even though assembly routine work has led to great advances, it has also created a lot of stress and boredom. One solution to that, which Maharishi Mahesh Yogi often talked about, could be to give such workers (i.e. all of us) an opportunity for twice daily infinite creativity. Maharishi used to tell business people that this can be accomplished easily through the practice of a mind-expanding technique such as Transcendental Meditation.
As always, I enjoyed your post Alex.
Dr Claude Windenberger
Help!! I’m being taken to task tomorrow for NOT multitasking enough. I’ve long known that my productivity goes down and the quality of my work suffers when I multitask. How do you respond to a supervisor who wants to see evidence of more multitasking? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
great article – differentiating between stacking (GOOD) and multitasking (BAD). . . I also read somewhere that multitasking can actually make you dumber. Perhaps it’s just the increase in mistakes that might make it appear so.
One other thing a subset of multitasking is switching from one task to another repeatedly and often. Usually creates an attention deficit/ lack of focus situation and kills your efficiency and effectiveness.
with the exception of talking on the cell while driving sometimes, I find myself changing gears too often instead which can be mentally draining.
Ha! this is a relieving article – multitasking should be dead by the end of the decade. I hope we move into the “intentional tasking” age.
I have found starting the day with a real awareness of what’s going on in your body and your breathing requires you to stop going into multi-tasking. Once my intentions are clear – events and tasks fall into a natural order….which sometimes does include chaos!
I was just writing to my girlfriend a riddle: What is the difference between a Sensual Goddess, an Erotic Goddess and a Prophetic Goddess?
Answer: Nothing! Every goddess focuses on the fullness of each moment. (She may wear a different outfit depending on her mood).
I like the concept of “intentional tasks” … very clever.
I have a riddle for you too: “What’s the difference between being “crazy” vs. being “eccentric?”
Answer: People who are considered eccentric are wealthier than crazy people. So a “multi-tasker” who is wealthy is “eccentric” but a multi-tasker isn’t wealthy is “crazy.”
~ Alex
Alex –
Great reminders for everyone and loved the tie to Crenshaw’s book with Ford. For many years people have been told to be proud of their multi-tasking abilities. In fact, when I started my productivity and organization coaching business back in 2002, everyone wanted me to TEACH THEM to multi-task! It is great that there are now studies and books that prove that multi-tasking is not effective and actually makes things worse!
I will also share that I am a recovering work-a-holic and recovering multi-tasker. It is one thing to know the right things to do and another to be 100% changed. I’m proud of you for recognizing the areas you still multi-task and your commitment to alter those things. My major focus on non-multi-tasking right now (I pick one and work on it until it is gone) is to not be working on my laptop and talking to my 8 year old son at the same time. He is too important to give only half my attention. I have found that this change has been easier on me than it has been on him, however! He is used to coming into my office and starting a conversation. Now, he hears me say “Honey, please give me 5 minutes so I can complete my thoughts and then let’s talk.” This ensures that I stay focused on completing my writing and then turn my full focus to him. We’re getting there though! He likes the full attention.
To your success!
Steph
I’ve known of this myth for some time. Thanks for getting the word out.
I enjoyed reading this while eating my lunch with my junior associate. Must finish salad return emails and check out current Tweets now. :)
@juliebavi
Multitasking and Productivity…
Learn how multitasking cuts down on your productivity and strategies to increase productivity – straight from the productivity guy….
Multitasking and Productivity…
Learn how multitasking cuts down on your productivity and strategies to increase productivity – straight from the productivity guy….
Multitasking and Productivity…
Learn how multitasking cuts down on your productivity and strategies to increase productivity – straight from the productivity guy….
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