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A few years ago, I was talking to my friend on the phone while doing laps around my neighborhood. I was telling him about my day and how my anxiety had increased exponentially with work being so stressful. Because when you’re a teacher, there are hundreds of things pulling at your attention at any given moment.
I didn’t really want him to respond with any sort of solution. I was just in one of those venting moods and I wanted him to empathize with how stressed out I had been feeling.
Of course, that wasn’t the case. He was one of those “fixer” friends. The ones that didn’t want to get caught up in the drama of it all. He just wanted to make it better.
“You don’t get it,” I said. “I’ll sit down to write an IEP and then I have to jump up and respond to a walkie call. And then when I’m on my way to answer the walkie call, I’ll bump into a teacher that needs to urgently talk about something.”
He patiently listened and said, “Research shows that you are a more effective worker when you don’t multi-task.”
I could feel myself getting fired up. How could he possibly understand what it was like to work at a school? You can’t just take things one at a time. When your students are present and you have multiple responsibilities, you need a million eyes and hands on everything.
I fired back with a sarcastic remark, “Okay. Sure. I could just imagine it going over REAL well when somebody calls me down to the playground because Student X slapped someone in the face and I respond with, ‘Can’t get to it. I’m focusing on this one task right now.'”
He laughed at my rebuttal and agreed that, in some situations, it may not be possible to avoid multitasking. But he gave me some suggestions on how to maximize efficiency by focusing on one task at a time – if and when it was possible.
I was being extra dramatic and rebellious at this point because I just felt as though he couldn’t possibly understand. So, again, I fired back. “That’s ridiculous. Some tasks are so mundane and mindless that you might as well pair it with something else to be more efficient.”
“Like what?” he responded.
“Like, here I am talking to you on the phone while ALSO getting in my 10,000 steps for the day. Or the dishes. I can listen to a book on tape or talk to a friend on the phone while also doing the dishes.”
He remained committed to his stance that multi-tasking at any level makes us less productive humans. I don’t remember how the conversation ended, but I imagine I probably rolled my eyes, hung up the phone and sought some sort of validation elsewhere. That life was stressful. And there was NO cure to fixing it.
Fast forward four years and I’m thinking back at that conversation with so much more understanding of my friend’s point of view.
Sure, in the moment, it feels like we are being more productive humans. It feels like we are more efficient with our time when we can wash the dishes and catch up with a friend at the same time. But that’s not the case.
Mindfulness and Productivity
Click to buy on Amazon!
I’ve been reading The Power of Now and have also read a few studies that show that multitasking lowers IQ and lowers productivity by 40%. A recent study at Stanford University suggests that multitasking is much less efficient than performing one task at a time. Researchers tested “heavy multitaskers” who claimed that it boosted their performance. These people “were actually worse at multitasking than those who perform one task at a time because “they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another.”
Everything comes down to our ability to make decisions. And when we engage in “task switching,” it places high demands on our cognitive resources. Instead, when we intentionally focus on one thing at a time, our mind is in better shape. We up our mental game. We improve our focus and our creativity and our relationships when we pay attention.
I used to feel that if I don’t create the to-dos, if I don’t plan ahead, if I don’t anticipate the conversation and prepare for it, I won’t be ready to deal with whatever is to come. The reality is that when our head space is cleared and not cluttered with thoughts about the past or future, we are more readily available to handle each moment. When the time comes, our ability to stay in the NOW frees us of the emotions that impede our decision-making.
Questions of the Day:
- What helps you stay focused on one task at a time?
- What life hacks do you have to keep yourself mindful of each moment?
Wow never thought of multitasking like this I always thought it was a good thing especially if your well at it never knew it lowers your iq. Thanks for this post!
I am a terrible multi-tasker, so this was a great read for me!
Thank you for this. I always looked at multi-tasking as a way of getting more done. Now I see that Doing one thing at a time will probably take less time and that thing will be done better.
Isn’t it interesting? I don’t know where I first read multi-tasking wasn’t good for you, but I’ve always found it fascinating since because we’re almost EXPECTED to it – all the time. It’s even on job descriptions!!
-Lauren
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I love this. Over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at focusing on single tasks at home, but I still can’t seem to get the hang of it at work.
I feel like I’m living proof that multitasking is less efficient, haha. I am constantly doing a million things at once and at the end of the day, it’s almost as if I’ve got nothing done! I definitely need to work on focusing on one task at a time.
I’m watching TV while reading blogs. Clearly, I need help. The Power of Now sounds great 🙂
It’s funny because for the longest time multi-tasking was THE thing and now it’s not as popular. I think it’s so much better to try to focus on one thing at a time!
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I’ve just recently learned that multi-tasking isn’t good for you! Which makes total sense because when I used to do it, I never finished anything. Now I tend to use delayed gratification to motivate me to focus on (and finish) the task at hand.
I think multitasking is okay for things that don’t require your full attention, but for work or serious projects it definitely does more harm than good.
The power of now…this is a book I have been saying I will read for years and started and did not finish! I can def see your points about not being able to multitask at school. Teaching is a very tough job and I give you so much credit!
This is a great read. I am really ‘good’ at getting distracted by things like email and social media. I wasn’t even aware of how much this back and forth lowered my productivity until I read a statistic that it can take our brains around 20 minutes to ‘get back on task’ when we get interupted or interupt ourselves with distractions. No wonder we are not productive! I’ve tried time blocking as a way to make sure I am focusing on one task at a time.
I need to read this book asap! We keep hearing that multi-tasking is not productive and yet when life gets stressful we feel that it is the only way to get things done.
One of my ways to just step back and do one thing at a time is to do something around the house that I cannot multi-task my way through. Something that needs all my attention. It could be a household task or gardening. It really helps me to be present.
Ha ha ha.
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It depends upon the personality of a particular person. Women has a great percentage of effectiveness in multitasking job since they got more endurance than men. Men always want to have a focus on one job.
I’m very much like you used to be. I have to be doing multiple things at a time. Sounds like I need to kick back and really focus on one thing at a time though. It will be hard.
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Thank you for sharing this! I really do find this very helpful. I’m the kind of person who easily loses concentration. I work from home and feel very inefficient. I have a large to-do list in my head, including such things as “cook the lunch before the kids come”, “load the laundry”, and the like. I understand that I need to deal exclusively with work tasks during the workday, but I can’t forget about all that home stuff when at home. Eh, this is a big problem for me.