Laura Stack says true multitasking is the preserve of the fortunate few, but there are other methods the rest of us can employ to get close.
Photo: Scyther5
If you’ve ever read an article about multitasking, it probably included an image of someone with multiple arms typing, using a calculator, talking on the phone, and drinking coffee, all at once
They look like something out of Hindu mythology.
While women seem to multitask better than men, I’m still not a big fan of it.
In my opinion, multitasking tends to waste more time than it saves, while putting undue strain on those practicing it.
For 97.5 per cent of workers multitasking doesn’t work as well as single-tasking.
Recent generations, however, have become increasingly proficient at handling rapid change, absorbing or avoiding most of the distractions thrown their way, and juggling multiple tasks.
This may be because Generation Y, Millennials, and Generation Z are more mentally flexible than previous generations — or they may be the next step in human mental evolution.
As my kids have grown through their teens, I’ve seen them watch television, chat on the phone and do homework simultaneously, with no negative effects on their grades.
Nonetheless, effective multitasking remains rare in the workforce, even among those of us weaned on constant change.
That said, many more of us come close to it in other ways — and then it really does save time.
Let’s look at a few examples.
You’re a super-tasker:
About 2.5-to-three per cent of people can not only multitask effectively, but do better work.
Researchers demonstrated this in a series of studies where people tried to handle three confusing tasks at once.
It turns out super-tasker brains respond differently than single-taskers.
The parts of their brain that ought to heat up due to overactivity while multitasking remain cool, suggesting that for these individuals, multitasking is automatic.
You can do two things at once if they don’t involve the same part of the brain:
This isn’t uncommon though it may take practice and coordination.
It’s certainly easier to sing along with the radio as you work or select music for an event while balancing your accounts than to balance those accounts while doing your Departmental budget.
You switch tasks rapidly and smoothly:
Others swear by processes that, if not true multitasking, come close.
Rather than truly doing two things at once, you may rapidly alternate between activities, giving each a time-slice — just like a computer.
If you can do this without getting confused or taking forever to readjust to each task, you’ll certainly keep yourself from becoming bored.
You’ve become a multitasker by practice:
When you have no other choice, you may learn to do tasks simultaneously or switch tasks often.
This can be when you’re waiting for others to complete a task, or people are constantly walking into your office to ask you questions.
Back in the days when it might take a computer minutes to open a big file — yes, this sometimes happened in the ’80s and ’90s — my colleagues and I often turned to paperwork, quick calls, or other tasks in the interim.
We couldn’t even have two programs open at once back then. (We also walked to work barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways!)
Nowadays, we get so frustrated ‘waiting’, many of us drop into another simple task, even if the wait’s only a minute or so.
You’re more focused under pressure.
The same study proving women do better at multitasking concluded it’s because they’re more systematic under pressure.
Some people swear they are at their productive best the day before they go on vacation.
If you have this capacity, you may take less time to complete or switch tasks than other people, meeting a casual definition of multitasking.
The lesson remains: Most of the time, most of us really do work better by focusing on a single task.
Some of us become masters at working so fast sequentially it looks like we’re multitasking when we’re not.
Clearly, though, true multitasking isn’t impossible, and it looks like we all need to improve at it in the future.
We may be evolving in that direction; it already seems second nature for some people.
By the time the Millennials retire, the workforce of that era may wonder what the big deal was about something they take for granted.
*Laura Stack is a keynote speaker, author, and authority on productivity and performance who has authored seven books, including her newest: Doing the Right Things Right: How the Effective Executive Spends Time. She can be contacted at theproductivitypro.com
This article first appeared on Laura’s blogsite.
