Multitasking versus focus and mindfulness

Multitasking is in many ways the opposite of focus and mindfulness. The ability to multitask has always been assumed (i.e. the ability to walk and chew gum) but it is seemingly REQUIRED in today’s workplace. It is severely overrated and it is the cause a lot of the dysfunction that is obvious without even thinking in “Dilbert mode”. Focusing with laser-like intensity is the way to accomplish the most in the least amount of time.

 

I once worked in a place where you were considered “out of date” if you did not take a laptop into a meeting. What I quickly discovered is that most of the meetings were unimportant. (Holding relevant meetings is a topic for another time.) The actual multitaskers inevitably wasted everyone else’s time with “I missed that, could you repeat?” Again, the subtle message was that the work being done on the laptop (and frequently, it was FaceBooking) was more important than the meeting.

Here are some important points to keep in mind about multitasking:

·         You are not a computer. The circuitry and code of a CPU is designed to rapidly change focus from one job/task to another.  The human brain is not. We must go through the process of finding our place with each switch of focus. This is actually time consuming (which means you can get more done by focusing on tasks one at a time).

·         Benefits of focus in problem solving. Focus allows us to do a better job of sorting out the facts. It might even seem like a focused individual is not doing anything during a very intense session of “figuring things out”.  In reality, they are channeling their inner Sherlock Holmes.  Maria Konnikova has just published an excellent book on the subject of thinking like the famous fictional detective.

·       If a face to face conversation is one of the tasks, doing anything else during the talk is a subliminal message that the other issue (IM, phone, filing papers) is more important than the other person in that conversation. Choose to be present. Choose to tell the other person that you value the fact they made the effort to show up “live and in person”.

·         Increased Stress. Constant, long term multitasking can overstimulate your “fight or flight” responses. This causes several hormones, cortisol, noradrenaline and adrenaline. The stress to your system of these “false fight or flight” responses is bad and there are all sorts of associated health risks that come with prolonged stress.

·         Exceptions that make sense. Simple tasks can be combined, especially if one of the tasks is waiting. A good example is filing while you wait on hold. You know exactly what the next filing task is, so there is no significant effort in finding your place.

Do you remember when multitasking made you mess something up or when focus allowed you to succeed?