Debunking the Multi-Tasking Myth

Hey all you women and students out there.  (And OK, men too.)  This one’s for you!

Put down the cleaning cloth in your hand, turn off the stove, close your email and your textbook, turn off the TV and the iPod, put the phone on silent, leave all the extra stuff right where it is for now, and just TALK to the people around you.

Focus on just one thing at a time – your family’s a great place to begin.  (But beware.  You might actually learn something about them. )

How’s that for an insight!  You really don’t have to, and shouldn’t, ‘do it all’, and especially not all at once.

I came across an article called “Supercharge Your Productivity with Ultradian Rhythms” that goes into this in much more detail and explains how to maximize your time and energy during the day.  It’s really worth the read.

Here’s the first part of the article:

With the coming of the information age a fad called multi-tasking was also born. Somehow it was perceived efficient to be able to do many things at the same time; read your emails, talk with your spouse, eat bubblegum while walking… The reason I call multi-tasking a fad is that research shows that multi-tasking is actually detrimental to productivity, and apparently can be worse on your IQ than pot smoking. How about that?

Instead of concentrating on doing many different things at the same time, you should choose a single important task and immerse yourself completely in it.

So for all of you who have stressed over what you understood to be a ‘short attention span’ because you couldn’t sustain a task for hours, now you know that it’s just your ultradian rhythm at work.

And that’s great news, don’t you think?

Related posts:

1. The 12-Ball IQ Challenge