Multitasking: Myth or master skill?

Glenford Smith, Career writer

Are you among the many persons who see multitasking as an essential strategy for coping with the seemingly endless demands at work? If so, you're not alone.

As the demands increase for fewer people to produce more, in less time and with fewer resources, increasingly more frantic workers find it impracticable to merely do one thing at a time.

It's common nowadays to see people driving while chatting or texting on cellphones.

Typing a memo while talking on the phone, with background music playing through computer speakers, is also not an uncommon sight in a typical office either.

But is multitasking really effective or does spreading one's attention a recipe for distraction, reduced concentration and making errors?

My research, observation and experience strongly suggest that business people and professionals need to rethink their multitasking beliefs.

It seems that while multitasking has been given a thumbs up theoretically and anecdotally, its practical efficacy is in question now more than ever.

Recent scientific findings about the brain contradict the accepted wisdom on multitasking.

Dr John Medina, a well-respected microbiologist and author of the book Brain Rules, states: "Multitasking, when it comes to paying attention, is a myth. The brain naturally focuses on concepts sequentially, one at a time."

This means that unlike multi-core computers, from which the idea of multitasking originated, and which can, in fact, perform multiple tasks simultaneously, human multitasking is an illusion.

Case in point

A few years ago, Time magazine reported on a series of new studies that examined the modern, multitasking worker which showed that the constant splintering and diversion of our attention wastes time and money.

In one study of 1,000 office workers, from top managers on down, it was found that once their attention was distracted from a task, it took, on average, "a stunning 25 minutes to return to the original task—if they managed to do so at all that day".

This means that when multitasking, your brain is actually switching from one task to another so quickly it seems you're doing them simultaneously. The recovery time and energy associated with getting back on task are the causes of productivity decline.

Errors, accidents, and overlooked priorities are the result.

Dr Edward Hallowell, in a Harvard Business Review article, Why Smart People Underperform, coined the term attention-deficit trait (ADT) to describe this phenomenon.

He explained that ADT takes hold when we get so overloaded with incoming messages and competing tasks that we are unable to prioritise, resulting in multitasking.

Changing the multitasking habit is hard. It is possible to adopt a new practice, however. In his book, The 21 Success Secrets of Self-made Millionaires, productivity expert Brian Tracy advises: "Set priorities on your activities and concentrate single-mindedly on one thing at a time and you can accomplish anything you want in life."

If you find that you are constantly busy, but actually accomplishing very little, replace mindless activity with real achievement.

Schedule specific blocks of time in which you focus exclusively on completing one task without interruption or distraction. Then watch your productivity and job satisfaction skyrocket.

Glenford Smith is a motivational speaker and success strategist. He is the author of a new book, 'From Problems to Power: How to Win Over Worry and Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities'. glenfordsmith@yahoo.com