Multitasking is A Myth

 

 

 

 

  

 

"If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one."  

                                                                –Irish proverb

Multititasking is really switchtasking. Things happen so quickly people don’t realize the cost their paying. It doesn’t matter that someone believes they were doing the same thing at the same time. They weren’t. Instead, their brain was jumping between the two tasks.

A Real Life Example

 A supervisor named George is mentally locked on writing an email, crafting a well-thought reply. Enter one of his direct reports, Sally.

Switch. Eager to finish the email, George glanced up for a moment to give her his attention—which should be enough…so he thought. Switch.

But Sally needed an answer yesterday and demanded George’s full attention. So, George tried to listen, but in the back of his mind, George was still thinking about the unfinished email and other work he was in a hurry to get done. Switch.

Realizing he missed everything Sally has just said, and that it clearly was important to her, George asked her to repeat the question. Switch.

Frustrated, Sally repeated herself, this time with George fully tuning into her needs. In the end, George gave her a rushed answer. And then turned his attention back to his computer.

Because of the interruption and the break in his concentration, it took George a few moments to find his spot in the email. Then George had to refocus his train of thought again. It took a moment to get there, but eventually he did and got back to his work. Switch and switch again.

George will claim that he got everything done. He probably did but in a highly unproductive way. Switchtasking is costly, inefficient, and ineffective.

·    Studies show that on average, a person loses about 28 percent of their workday because of interruptions (A Microsoft study revealed that the average person interrupts themselves every forty seconds!) and inefficiencies. Multitasking—or more accurately, switchtasking—is one of the biggest culprits.  

                                                                 --University of Washington

     Organizations that reduced multitasking realized an average of a 58.8% improvement in productivity.          —Realization Technologies. 

     "I’m speaking to you and checking my iPhone at the same time, I’m doing neither. This is why our society is frazzled; this misconception that we can consciously do more than one thing at a time effectively.”   

                                                                  –Deepak Chopra

 To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

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