Thoughts on multi-tasking

In a job interview, the following conversation took place:

Interviewer: “I heard you are extremely quick at math.”

Applicant: “Why yes, as a matter of fact, I am.”

Interviewer: “What’s 14x27?”

Applicant: “49.”

Interviewer: “That’s not even close.”

Applicant: “Yeah, but it was fast.”

Speed may be impressive, but it is not effective if it is not accurate. One common complaint in the workplace is that a lot of jobs are done fast but the rate of quality and accuracy leaves much to be desired. And why is that? The famed management guru Peter Drucker says: “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” And something efficiently done that should not have been done at all is “multitasking” which is a myth in modern-day business.

Modern day studies have proven that humans are incapable of doing many tasks at the same time with focus and efficiency, yet we convince ourselves that we can do multitasking when the more accurate word for what the brain does is actually “switch-tasking.” Could it be that this is the main contributor to the millennial malaise that we see today where in attention span just get shorter and shorter and focus becomes a needed skill because it is in rare supply? Managers often assume they are doing many tasks at the same time but in reality, they may just be doing one thing badly, and quickly doing another thing just as bad but just as quick only to realize later that they are pre-occupied with the many tasks they have touched but left incomplete.

Experts in the brain field insists in saying that the thinking part of the brain itself does not multitask, and so people do not really multitask. The human system is not set up that way. The brain experiences and holds only one thought at a time. And so, we switch tasks and do not really do many tasks at the same time.

Business efficiency expert Kerry Gleeson said, “The constant, unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy.” Not the things we do but the things we think we still have to do.

You are probably thinking: “But I have been efficient doing multitasking all these years and it has not been a problem for me.” I respect that. Some articles I have read would perhaps explain why you think this way.

Kunal Gupta is the founder and CEO of Polar and a founding member of Publisher 2020 says there is a difference between multitasking and switch tasking. “Multitasking is when we are doing multiple tasks aligned to the same outcome. Driving a car involves checking the rearview mirror, watching the odometer, looking at the side mirrors, checking blind spots, oh and watching the road ahead of you through the windshield. Cooking a meal in similar, in that the stove may be on, while you are chopping vegetables, wiping the counter and following a recipe.

Switch tasking is when our attention is on different tasks that are not directly related to the same outcome. Going from working on a project, to reading something on Slack, to eavesdropping on the conversation next to you, to eating lunch, to checking Facebook, to answering an email and back to the project is switch tasking.

Our brain can handle multitasking. Our brain does not do so well switch tasking and there is a real cost to switch tasking.”1

I tend to agree with this observation. In training and public speaking, I do many things at the same time; I think, I speak, I observe and gauge the audience, I follow the slides, I check on the microphone periodically, but all these bring me to the same outcome. And underneath these multi-activities that are going on at the same time, I achieve a flow state for the mind which means I am solidly focused on what I am doing and can deliver my best work. It also makes my work enjoyable.

But having one person do multi-tasks that do not lead to the same outcome does not only frustrate the person but causes the poor chap to deliver results that are mediocre at best or unfinished at worst.

Here is a thought for people in leadership roles to consider. Effective leaders find ways to relax into a very purposeful day, goal-oriented and focused on the highest-priority activity. They do not gravitate from one task and then to another thinking that they are part of the Avengers Team blessed with superpowers able to deliver quick and good result. It just does not work that way. There is one element here that makes them focused: they have spent a considerable amount of time focused on their purpose and they would do things that are aligned in meeting it because they chose it.

A wise guy says: “I’m great at multitasking. I can waste time, be unproductive, and procrastinate all at once.” While another bozo says: “I can listen, ignore and forget all at the same time.” But wisdom comes with age when this person in his senior years says: “With age comes skills and this is called ‘Multitasking skills.’ I can laugh, cough, sneeze and pee all at the same time.”

Now we know the difference.

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1 https://polar.me/blog/youre-not-multitasking-switch-tasking-ruining-productivity