Is Multitasking Efficient?
Turns out the answer is a resounding NO.
Check out these 6 reasons you should monotask (focus on a single task) rather than multitask.
1. Multitasking Is A Lie.
Cognitive scientists have confirmed it: multitasking is a myth. According to researchers, the brain is not engineered in a way that lets it perform multiple tasks at once. While you may think you’re multitasking, you’re actually just rapidly switching tasks — at a great cost.
2. Multitasking Takes More Time.
According to D. E. Meyers, author of the paper A computational theory of executive cognitive processes and multiple-task performance the cost of rapidly switching tasks is 40% of a person’s productive abilities. Switching between many tasks makes it take longer to complete them. Doing work serially takes less time.
3. Multitasking Makes Solving Difficult Problems Impossible.
No one solved a really challenging problem while checking email, talking on the phone and keeping an eye on their twitter feeds. Difficult problems require the deep thinking and focus you can only get with monotasking.
4. Multitasking is Unprofessional.
Do you think your clients or co-workers can’t tell when you’re reading your email while on that conference call? You’re wrong. If you’re getting paid to do work for someone, it should deserve your complete attention. Would you want your boss or your customers to know that you’re doing their work while only half paying attention?
5. Multitasking Prevents Flow.
You know that feeling you get when you’re working on something well and time just flies by? There’s a name for the phenomenon: Flow. Flow is when you’re at the absolute height of your productivity. In order to get into flow you need to be focused and undistracted. Monotasking yields flow, multitasking does not.
6. Multitasking Could Get You Killed.
University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer says that a 20-year-old driver using a cell phone has the same reaction time as a 70-year-old driver without one. It’s estimated that cell phone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States each year. Also, while not entirely scientific, the ever-awesome Mythbusters confirmed that driving while talking on a mobile phone is worse than driving while drunk. If you’re ever going to give monotasking a try, do it while in your car.
Reposted from: silverclipboard.com
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