Getting Beyond the Myth of Multitasking

I get it. You want to be productive. You want to get more done. And it feels like more than a want, but an imperative – there is more to do than you think you can get to. I’m with you – I want to be more productive too. But I am going to go “mythbusters” on you and bust the myth of multitasking. But I’m not stopping at simply busting the myth. Here are ways to move past this counter-productive behavior and actually get more accomplished.

The Myth of Multitasking

The research is clear and resounding: Our brains don’t parallel-process like a high-end computer. Earl K. Miller, a neuroscience professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory says “Our brains are wired to do just one cognitively demanding thing at a time. We tell ourselves we’re multitasking, when what we’re actually doing is task-switching, rapidly shifting from one thing to the next.”

Task switching

You know, like when you are typing an email, and someone interrupts you. And when you return to the email, it takes you a second (or longer) to get back to where you were. Or like when you are talking on the phone while driving, and the traffic flow changes unexpectedly. On the surface, these task switching costs may individually be small (as small as a few milliseconds per switch). But they can add up to large amounts when people switch repeatedly back and forth between tasks.

Thus, multitasking may seem efficient on the surface. In truth, it is a myth, and often leads to greater errors as well. Dr. David Meyer has found in his research that even brief mental blocks created by shifting between tasks can cost as much as 40 percent of someone's productive time.

So, our goal in multitasking is admirable – to get more done. But mostly it doesn’t help us at all. In fact, highly successful (and productive) entrepreneur, Gary Keller, is more direct in his assessment. He says, “Multitasking is a lie.”

Whether you want to call it a myth or a lie, many of us have this habit. Some even seem addicted to this counter-productive approach to using our time.

What can we do to overcome it?

Some Better Alternatives

• Turn off your notifications. The buzzes, the beeps, and the vibrations. Seriously turn them off. Even you if say, “I don’t check them every time,” you are distracted, and your mind makes a switch every time they go off. If you don’t get notified, you can stay on your current task, including a conversation with someone else. Chances are, most of those are at least as important as whatever the notification is. Plus, the more rapidly you respond to people, the more you create the expectation that you will respond quickly. This creates a cycle of expectations that is hard to keep up with, and in most cases, unnecessary.
• Work in short bursts. Decide you are going to work for 15 minutes, fully focused, then take a 5-minute break. Use those breaks to check your texts, emails, etc. This is a modified version of the effective Pomodoro Technique.
• Put the phone away. Turning off the notifications is a great first step. Next step? Put the phone away, and maybe your earphones too. Put the phone in the drawer or across the room out of sight. Don’t just put it in airplane mode, remove it from your view. It will be one less distraction and one more way to be intentional in curbing your multitasking. Then, go for a walk or spend an afternoon without these devices. The more “seasoned” of us remember when they didn’t even exist. You will survive – at least – and keep yourself from giving in to the myth of multitasking.
• Welcome white space. You don’t have to be doing something every minute. In fact, if you allow some white space in your life, you might actually think, plan, and reflect more. You may find yourself being more grateful, observant, and present. All of these help you do higher value work, making the rest of your time less stressed and more productive.
• Work on this together. Share this article with a friend and work on changing these habits together. Hold each other accountable, share what is working, and call people out when they are multitasking. You both can break the myth of multitasking by changing your mindsets and habits. And you will both become more productive.

Hopefully you will continue to think about how much you multitask and how much it might unintentionally be costing you. I wish you the best in bucking the trend, busting the myth, and becoming more effective and productive at the same time.

 If you have other approaches or solutions that you use, please share them in the comments!