Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 51 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The truth about multitasking
— From The ONE Thing: The surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan (watch the book trailer)
Much has ben said about multitasking, both for and against it. In The One Thing, Gary Keller and Jay Papasan finally bust the myth: multitasking is a lie.
The book cites Clifford Nass, a professor a Stanford University, who set out to study multitaskers as he realized he did not possess the skill. “I was sure they had some secret ability,” he said, but at the end of the study, multitaskers “were outperformed on every measure. Although they’d convinced themselves and the world that they were great at it, there was just one problem… multitaskers were just lousy at everything.”
“The truth is multitasking is neither efficient nor effective.”
There is no doubt that we can indeed “do two or more things at once, such as walk and talk, or chew gum and read a map; but… what we can’t do is focus on two things at once. Our attention bounces back and forth [‘task switching’]… Switching between two simple tasks—like watching television and folding clothes—is quick and relatively painless. However, if you’re working on a spreadsheet and a co-worker pops into your office to discuss a business problem, the relative complexity of those tasks makes it impossible to easily jump back and forth. It always takes some time to start a new task and restart the one you quit… [and] the cost in terms of extra time from having to task switch depends on how complex or simple the tasks are.”
So, let’s set the record straight: we can do two things at once, but we cannot focus effectively on two things at once. Need more proof? Here’s a fun little game (you’ll need a stopwatch):
Say the alphabet out loud and time how long it takes you: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, etc.…
Now count to 26 out loud and time how long it takes you: 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, etc…
I assume you had no problem doing both tasks, and that those are two things that you can do masterfully well, right?
Now intertwine them out loud and time how long it takes you: A, 1, B, 2, C, 3, etc…
What happened? Did you slow down at some point to figure out which letter corresponded with a number? Yep, that’s normal. Did you eventually give up before you finished because it was harder than you expected? Most people do. If you did go through the whole thing, I bet it took you much longer to do this letter-number combination than to say the alphabet followed by counting to 26 the first time.
This is exactly what happens when we are trying to switch from task to task, “[it] exacts a cost few realize [we’re] even paying.”
The book mentions that people who work with computers change windows, check email or switch programs close to 37 times per hour. This means less than 2 minutes devoted per task, and that is further reduced by the time that it takes to switch and (re)focus from one to the other. It’s no wonder we feel stretched to thin and squeezed for time when we are taking more time to get things done because of the lies we’ve been told about multitasking.
“Multitasking is merely the opportunity to screw up more than one thing at a time.” – Steve Uzzell
The authors then ask: if we wouldn’t allow a pilot or a surgeon to multitask, and instead demand full focus from them, “Why are we living another standard? Do we not value our own job or take it as seriously? Why would we ever tolerate multitasking when we’re doing our most important work? Just because our day job doesn’t involve bypass surgery shouldn’t make focus any less critical to our success or the success of others. Your work deserves no less respect.”
Eye opening, isn’t it?
ACTION
TODAY: Don’t feel bad if you get distracted, we all do. Simply bring your focus back to the task at hand and focus solely on that until you get it done, or until which point you are done with what you needed to do (say, now you have to wait for a coworker to give you his part of the slide deck). Repeat with your other tasks.
FUTURE: Build the habit of focusing and not switching from task to task. Remember the alphabet-number game: combining tasks or switching from one to another takes additional time that you may not realize. Here are 11 Exercises That Will Strengthen Your Attention.
Know someone who needs to stop multitasking? Tell them to focus on this post by sharing it via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!